The Pentagon on Saturday carried out the 21st recognized strike on an alleged drug-trafficking boat, US Southern Command introduced Sunday.
“Intelligence confirmed that the vessel was involved in illicit narcotics smuggling, transiting along a known narco-trafficking route, and carrying narcotics,” Southern Command posted on social media. “Three male narco-terrorists aboard the vessel were killed.”
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“The vessel was trafficking narcotics in the Eastern Pacific and was struck in international waters,” per the announcement.
The newest assault brings the full variety of individuals killed by the US military’s strikes on the alleged drug boats to 83. NCS has reported that the military is utilizing quite a lot of fighter jets, drones and gunships to hold out the strikes within the marketing campaign officers say is supposed to disrupt the circulation of medicine into the US.
The assault comes days after a Defense Department official mentioned the US carried out its 20th strike on an alleged drug trafficking boat final week.
The Justice Department has told Congress the administration doesn’t want its approval to hold out the strikes, which some consultants have mentioned might violate US and worldwide legislation. The ongoing marketing campaign has additionally begun to floor tensions with allies; the United Kingdom has stopped sharing intelligence with the US about suspected drug-trafficking vessels to keep away from being complicit within the strikes, NCS reported last week, which the UK believes are unlawful.
The president of Colombia additionally mentioned final week that he had ordered his nation to droop intelligence sharing with the US till the assaults cease.
NCS’s Haley Britzky and Sean Lyngaas contributed to this report.