In the latest attack on vessels in the international waters, the US military said it blew up a boat in the Eastern Pacific and killed one sailor. So far, the US military has conducted at least 29 strikes and killed at least 105 sailors.
In the latest attack on vessels in the international waters, the US military said it blew up a boat in the Eastern Pacific on Monday and killed one sailor.
The boat belonged to designated terrorist organisations and was transiting along known narco-trafficking routes and was engaged in narco-trafficking operations, the US Southern Command said in a statement.
As with all previous strikes in the ongoing campaign, the US military did not identify those it killed, provide any evidence the boat had drugs, or name the terrorist organisation the boat purportedly belonged to.
Since September 2, at the order of President Donald Trump, the US military has conducted at least 29 such strikes and killed 105 sailors in the international waters.
The latest strike has come at a time when Trump has ramped up the campaign against Venezuelan ruler Nicolas Maduro. He has declared a blockade of all sanctioned vessels transiting to Venezuela and has apprehended two tankers and pursued another in the international waters.
On Dec. 22, at the direction of @SecWar Pete Hegseth, Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted a lethal kinetic strike on a low-profile vessel operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations in international waters. Intelligence confirmed the low-profile vessel was transiting… pic.twitter.com/LGzEaQSTiR
— U.S. Southern Command (@Southcom) December 23, 2025
Instead of a real anti-narcotics campaign, Trump’s strikes on boats are part of building a pretext of launching attacks on Venezuela to topple Maduro’s regime and grab the country’s vast oil reserves, according to critics.
But Trump, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and their supporters have hailed the campaign as a rightful offensive against drug traffickers. Critics have, however, dubbed these attacks as illegal and potential war crimes. They have said summarily killing potentially unarmed persons in international waters without provocation is illegal and potentially a war crime.
In any case, critics have flagged, killing suspected drug traffickers instead of apprehending them and prosecuting them as per the law is a violation of longstanding US policy. Irrespective of the criticism, the Trump administration has continued to blow up boats and kill sailors.
In the most contentious strike, the US military on Sept. 2 carried out a second strike to kill two shipwrecked survivors of the first strike who were clinging to the broken vessel without any weapon or communication device. Commentators have flagged that killing unarmed shipwrecked survivors was in violation of both the international law and American war manual. But the Trump administration has stood by the decision to kill unarmed survivors.
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