WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Friday the U.S. military has carried out its third fatal strike against an alleged drug smuggling vessel this month.
President Trump announced a U.S. military strike killing three suspected drug traffickers aboard a vessel linked to a designated terrorist organization operating in the USSOUTHCOM area. This marks the third such strike this month targeting narco-trafficking in the region, with the White House and Pentagon yet to offer further details on the location or specifics of the operation
“Intelligence confirmed the vessel was trafficking illicit narcotics, and was transiting along a known narcotrafficking passage enroute to poison Americans,” Trump said in the post.
Trump on Monday announced the U.S. military had carried out a strike on a boat allegedly carrying drugs from Venezuela. That strike also killed three on board.
That followed a Sept. 2 military strike on what the Trump administration said was a drug-carrying speedboat that killed 11. Trump claimed the boat was operated by the Tren de Aragua gang, which was listed by the U.S. as foreign terrorist organization earlier this year.
The Trump administration has justified the military action as a necessary escalation to stem the flow of drugs into the United States.
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But several senators, Democrats and some Republicans, as well as human rights groups have questioned the legality of Trump’s action. They view it as a potential overreach of executive authority in part because the military was used for law enforcement purposes.
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