WASHINGTON — The U.S. navy stated Friday that it has carried out one other deadly strike on a vessel accused of trafficking medicine within the Japanese Pacific Ocean.
U.S. Southern Command stated on social media that the boat “was transiting alongside identified narco-trafficking routes within the Japanese Pacific and was engaged in narco-trafficking operations.” It stated the strike killed three individuals. A video linked to the publish reveals a ship floating within the water earlier than bursting into flames.
Friday’s assault raises the loss of life toll from the Trump administration’s strikes on alleged drug boats to a minimum of 148 individuals in a minimum of 43 assaults carried out since early September within the Caribbean Sea and japanese Pacific Ocean.
President Donald Trump has stated the U.S. is in “armed battle” with cartels in Latin America and has justified the attacks as a essential escalation to stem the circulation of medication. However his administration has supplied little proof to assist its claims of killing “narcoterrorists.”
Critics have questioned the overall legality of the strikes in addition to their effectiveness, partly as a result of the fentanyl behind many deadly overdoses is often trafficked to the U.S. over land from Mexico, the place it’s produced with chemical substances imported from China and India.
The boat strikes additionally drew intense criticism following the revelation that the navy killed survivors of the very first boat assault with a follow-up strike. The Trump administration and plenty of Republican lawmakers stated it was authorized and essential, whereas Democratic lawmakers and legal experts said the killings had been homicide, if not a battle crime.
