{"id":676651,"date":"2026-05-31T21:09:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-31T21:09:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/676651\/"},"modified":"2026-05-31T21:09:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-31T21:09:11","slug":"u-s-military-strike-on-alleged-drug-boat-in-pacific-ocean-kills-3-people-in-fourth-attack-this-week","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/676651\/","title":{"rendered":"U.S. military strike on alleged drug boat in Pacific Ocean kills 3 people in fourth attack this week"},"content":{"rendered":"

The U.S. military said it carried out another strike Saturday on a boat accused of smuggling drugs in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing three men in the fourth attack this week<\/a> and putting the total death toll at 205.<\/p>\n

U.S. Southern Command announced the strike<\/a> with its usual language that the vessel was “engaged in narco-trafficking operations” and operated by a designated terrorist organization. It provided no evidence for the allegation.<\/p>\n

It’s the latest in a monthslong campaign against alleged drug boats traversing the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific.<\/p>\n

Video released by the military on social media shows a small vessel moving in the ocean before it’s hit and engulfed in a fireball.<\/p>\n

The attack brings the death toll to 205 in a series of U.S. strikes that began in early September, with other attacks announced on Tuesday<\/a>, Wednesday<\/a> and Friday<\/a>. The death toll also\u00a0rose slightly this week<\/a>\u00a0because some people that had been initially reported by the U.S. military as survivors of the strikes have not been found.<\/p>\n

The Trump administration has declared that the U.S. is at armed conflict<\/a> with Latin American drug cartels, saying they are behind the flow of drugs into American communities.<\/p>\n

U.S. Southern Command said in its post on X that the strike came at the direction of Gen. Francis L. Donovan, the top U.S. commander in Latin America. Donovan on Friday\u00a0also met<\/a>\u00a0with Cuban military leaders near the U.S. Navy base in Guantanamo Bay.<\/p>\n

\"boat-screenshot-2026-05-31-130501.png<\/p>\n

The U.S. military conducted a lethal strike on a boat in the Eastern Pacific on Saturday, killing three men, officials said.<\/p>\n

U.S. Southern Command<\/p>\n

The legality of the boat strikes has come under scrutiny by experts. The White House\u00a0confirmed<\/a>\u00a0a Washington Post report that in the first attack, which occurred on Sept. 2, the U.S.\u00a0conducted<\/a>\u00a0a follow-on strike, or so-called double tap, that\u00a0killed two survivors<\/a>\u00a0of the initial strike on the vessel.<\/p>\n

Some lawmakers have questioned whether that follow-on strike constituted a war crime.\u00a0<\/p>\n

To date, only three people are known to have survived strikes and then been rescued. Two were rescued from a “narco sub” accused of carrying drugs in October and later\u00a0returned to their home countries<\/a>\u00a0of Ecuador and Colombia.<\/p>\n

In March, the U.S. Coast Guard said it recovered a survivor of a strike that killed two others and transferred the survivor to Costa Rican authorities.<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, the families of two Trinidadian men who were killed in a U.S. missile strike on a boat in the Caribbean\u00a0sued the Trump administration<\/a>\u00a0in federal court, arguing the “premeditated and intentional killings lack any plausible legal justification.”<\/p>\n

\n More from CBS News\n <\/p>\n

\n Go deeper with The Free Press\n <\/p>\n

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