Strike on alleged drug boat in Caribbean kills 3 people, U.S. military says

The U.S. military said Monday that it carried out a strike on a boat accused of smuggling drugs in the Caribbean Sea, killing three men.

The boat was “transiting along known narco-trafficking routes in the Caribbean and was engaged in narco-trafficking operations,” the U.S. Southern Command said in a statement on X. “Three male narco-terrorists were killed during this action. No U.S. military forces were harmed.”

Southern Command’s post on social media included a video of a stationary boat being destroyed in an explosion.  

Monday’s strike comes less than a week after 11 people accused of smuggling drugs were killed in Latin American waters as part of the Trump administration’s monthslong campaign against alleged traffickers. 

Since the administration began targeting those it calls “narcoterrorists” in small vessels last year, at least 148 people have been killed in the strikes.

Like most of the military’s statements on the dozens of known strikes, U.S. Southern Command said it targeted alleged drug traffickers along known smuggling routes but didn’t provide further details.

Most Democratic lawmakers have criticized the boat strikes, arguing the administration hasn’t provided enough evidence that the boats were trafficking drugs to the U.S. and has failed to get authorization from Congress for the military campaign. Several efforts by congressional Democrats to restrict the boat strikes have fallen short in the House and Senate.