The US military struck three more boats that were allegedly smuggling drugs, killing three people while others jumped overboard and may have survived.
A video posted to social media shows the boats traveling in a close formation, which is unusual, and the military said they were in a convoy along known narco-trafficking routes and ‘had transferred narcotics between the three vessels prior to the strikes.’
The latest attacks bring the total number of known boat strikes to 33 and the number of people killed to at least 110 since early September, according to numbers announced by the Trump administration.
The statement by US Southern Command, which oversees South America, did not reveal where the attacks occurred.
Previous attacks have been in the Caribbean Sea and in the eastern Pacific Ocean.
The military said three people were killed when the first boat was struck, while people in the other two boats jumped overboard and distanced themselves from the vessels before they were attacked.
Southern Command said it immediately notified the US Coast Guard to activate search and rescue efforts.
The attacks occurred on Tuesday. Southern Command’s statement did not say whether those who jumped off the boats were rescued.
The US military struck three more boats that were allegedly smuggling drugs, killing three people while others jumped overboard and may have survived, as part of Pete Hegseth (pictured left) and Donald Trump’s war on narco-terrorists
A video posted to social media shows the boats traveling in a close formation, which is unusual, and the military said they were in a convoy along known narco-trafficking routes and ‘had transferred narcotics between the three vessels prior to the strikes’
The Pentagon declined The Daily Mail’s request for comment. The Daily Mail has reached out to US Southern Command.
President Donald Trump has justified the attacks as a necessary escalation to stem the flow of drugs into the United States and asserted that the US is engaged in an ‘armed conflict’ with drug cartels.
Along with the strikes, the Trump administration has built up military forces in the region as part of an escalating pressure campaign on Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, who has been charged with narco-terrorism in the United States.
Meanwhile, the CIA was behind a drone strike last week at a docking area believed to have been used by Venezuelan drug cartels, according to two people familiar with details of the operation who requested anonymity to discuss the classified matter.
It was the first known direct operation on Venezuelan soil since the US began strikes in September, a significant escalation in the administration’s pressure campaign on Maduro’s government.
This is a developing story.
The military said three people were killed when the first boat was struck, while people in the other two boats jumped overboard and distanced themselves from the vessels before they were attacked