The US military said it killed on Thursday five more alleged drug traffickers aboard two vessels in the Pacific Ocean, bringing the divisive campaign’s death toll to over 100.
The Trump administration has carried out such strikes in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean since September but has provided no evidence that the boats are involved in drug trafficking, prompting debate about the operations’ legality.
The latest strikes hit two vessels in international waters that were “engaged in narco-trafficking operations,” the US Southern Command said on X.
Three people were killed in the first vessel and two in the second vessel, it said.
The strikes have now killed 104 people, according to an Agence France-Presse tally based on official data.
During a September operation, the US military launched a second strike that killed survivors of an initial attack on the same vessel, generating accusations of a war crime.
The use of the military for the anti-drug campaign and Trump’s warnings of a potential land strike in Venezuela have also raised the question whether he should seek authorisation from Congress.
The House of Representatives rejected two Democratic resolutions on Wednesday aimed at halting the strikes and “hostilities in or against Venezuela” without its authorisation.
