US military says 11 men killed in strikes on alleged drug smuggling boats
Footage posted on X by the US Southern Command shows strikes being carried out on various vessels at sea. (Supplied: US Southern Command/X)
In short:
The US military says it struck three boats in the eastern Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea on Monday, local time.
In a post on X, the US Southern Command said 11 men were killed in the strikes as the vessels traversed "known nacro-trafficking routes".
They are the latest in a string of military strikes carried out by the US on what the Trump administration says are drug smuggling operations bound for the US.
The US military says 11 people are dead after it carried out strikes on three vessels in the eastern Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea.
In a post on X, the US Southern Command said the three vessels struck "were transiting along known narco-trafficking routes and were engaged in narco-trafficking operations".
"Eleven male narco-terrorists were killed during these actions, 4 on the first vessel in the Eastern Pacific, 4 on the second vessel in the Eastern Pacific, and 3 on the third vessel in the Caribbean," it said, adding that no US forces were harmed.
The strikes took place late on Monday, local time, and vision published on X by the Southern Command shows missiles striking various vessels.
The boats are then shown on fire in the water.
The US military did not provide evidence of the alleged drug trafficking.
The attacks are the latest in a string of operations carried out in the waters of the eastern Pacific and Caribbean in what the US government says are attempts to prevent drug smugglers from reaching the United States.
US President Donald Trump has previously justified the attacks as a necessary step to clamp down on the drug trafficking trade.
But the military operations have attracted scrutiny from members of the US Congress, with concerns some of the strikes may constitute war crimes.
Since taking office for the second time in January last year, Mr Trump has dramatically increased US interventions in Central and South America.
In early January, US forces seized Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and flew him to New York, where he was charged with a number of offences, including nacroterrorism conspiracy.