Three men have been killed in a US strike on an alleged drug-smuggling boat in the Caribbean, US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth has said.
It is the latest in a series of attacks on vessels the Trump administration says are being used to smuggle drugs into the US.
Since they began in September, experts have questioned the legality of the strikes under international law, which have drawn strong criticism from Latin American leaders whose citizens have been targeted.
Combatting the flow of illegal drugs is a key policy for US President Donald Trump – but some have suggested the strikes are part of efforts to influence politically opposed governments in the region.
Hegseth said the boat targeted on Saturday was operated by a designated terrorist organisation – without specifying which one – and had been travelling in international waters when it was hit.
The vessel was travelling along a known drug-smuggling route and carrying narcotics, he said, without providing evidence.
Announcements of these strikes are usually accompanied with grainy footage but no evidence of the alleged drug trafficking and few details about who or what was on board each vessel.
Hegseth’s statement late on Saturday was accompanied by a video that appears to show a blurred-out boat travelling through the water before exploding.
The Trump administration has insisted that it was targeting “narco-terrorists”.
Colombian President Gustavo Petro has previously described the attacks as “murder” and said they were being used by the US to “dominate” Latin America.
Meanwhile, Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro accused Washington of “fabricating a war”.
The two left-wing leaders have increasingly been at odds with the Trump administration.
Following Petro’s comments, the US placed sanctions on him and his inner circle, as well as removing Colombia’s certification as an ally in the war on drugs. Trump has threatened military action against land targets in Venezuela.
But this, he has admitted, may require the consent of the US Congress.
However, some US lawmakers, both Democrat and Republican, have said the strikes on vessels also required congressional approval – something Trump has denied.
Others have questioned whether the lethal strikes were legal at all.
The UN’s human rights chief Volker Turk said on Friday that such attacks were a violation of international human rights law.
“Over 60 people have reportedly been killed in a continuing series of attacks carried out by US armed forces… in circumstances that find no justification in international law,” he said.
“These attacks – and their mounting human cost – are unacceptable.”
Experts in Latin American politics have suggested the strikes in the Caribbean and Pacific were part of a suite of measures designed to influence change in Colombia and Venezuela.
The US is among many nations that consider Maduro’s election last year as illegitimate, while Trump has been critical of Petro’s policies on combatting the drug trade in his country, which has traditionally been a US ally.
Washington has steadily been building up a force of warships, fighter jets, marines, spy planes, bombers and drones in the Caribbean over the past few months, which it has framed as part of a crackdown on drug-trafficking but which military analysts say is much larger than what is needed.
