U.S. kills 3 in latest military strike on alleged drug trafficking boat

Nov. 6 (UPI) -- The United States has killed three people in a military strike on an alleged drug trafficking boat in the Caribbean, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said Thursday night, the 17th attack on vessels in international waters since September.

The strike was directed by President Donald Trump against what Hegseth said was "a Designated Terrorist Organization."

Hegseth did not name the cartel allegedly linked to the vessel or provide evidence that it was trafficking drugs.

"To all narco-terrorists who threaten our homeland: if you want to stay alive, stop trafficking drugs," Hegseth said in a statement on X. "If you keep trafficking deadly drugs -- we will kill you."

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Accompanying the statement was a video of a boat driving across a body of water. It is then seen in black-and-white footage erupting in flames.

Since returning to the White House in January, Trump has, via executive order, listed eight drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations and specially designated global terrorists.

Since Sept. 2, the U.S. military has conducted at least 17 known strikes against alleged drug trafficking boats in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean, killing around 70 people. The attacks are the first publicly acknowledged use of lethal warfare-style force to combat drug trafficking.

The strikes have drawn both domestic and international criticism and allegations of war crimes, murder and extrajudicial killings. Some Democrats have questioned the legality of the Trump administration carrying out the strikes without proper congressional approval.

The Trump administration has defended the strikes as necessary to protect Americans from illegal drugs, asserting that the attacks comply with U.S. and international law.

Two weeks ago, Trump said that he doesn't think his administration is going to ask Congress to approve the attacks, saying, "I think we are just going to kill people that are bringing drugs into our country."

For weeks, Democrats have been demanding answers over the attacks, and a Wednesday meeting on the military strikes with Secretary of State Marco Rubio has left some lawmakers unconvinced of the administration's legal footing to attack the boats.

"It is clear from this briefing that the administration's legal justifications are dubious and meant to circumvent Congress' constitutional power on matters of war and peace," Rep. Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y., ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said in a statement following Hegseth's announcement.

"The Trump administration is recklessly provoking a war that Congress has not authorized and the American people do not want, without thought for what comes next."