May 27 (UPI) — The U.S. military has killed another person in its latest strike on a suspected drug-trafficking boat in the Trump administration’s deadly crackdown on alleged narcotics trafficking in interenational waters.
The Tuesday strike was the 58th publicly disclosed by U.S. Southern Command in President Donald Trump‘s monthslong campaign, which has now killed at least 194 people.
SOUTHCOM said three people were aboard the boat and that the U.S. Coast Guard has been notified to conduct search-and-rescue operations.
As with the previous strikes, SOUTHCOM claimed in a statement that “intelligence confirmed the vessel was transiting along known narco-trafficking routes in the Eastern Pacific and was engaged in narco-trafficking operations.”
No evidence has been made public amid the campaign, which began in early September.
A black-and-white aerial video accompanied the SOUTHCOM statement showing a boat racing across the water and then erupting into flames.
SOUTHCOM says the boats are operated by one of 10 drug cartels and gangs that Trump has designated as terrorist organizations. Trump has said the United States is in “armed conflict” with the designated organizations in justifying the use of military force in drug-enforcement operations.
However, his administration has been accused of committing extrajudicial killings with the attacks by numerous legal and human rights organizations, as well as by United Nations experts.
Critics contend that it is unlawful for the Trump administration to use the military for ostensibly law-enforcement operations.
