April 15 (UPI) — The U.S. military killed four men on Tuesday in a strike on a suspected drug-trafficking boat in the Pacific, its fourth vessel attack in four days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Since Saturday, the United States has killed at least 11 people in strikes targeting alleged drug-trafficking boats under President Donald Trump’s anti-narcotics operation, which rights groups and legal experts have criticized as unlawful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A U.S. Coast Guard search for a lone survivor from one of Saturday’s attacks was suspended Monday after finding no signs of survivors or debris, a spokesperson confirmed to UPI in a statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With the four killed Tuesday, the known death toll of the anti-drug-trafficking operation, which began in early September, rises to at least 175, according to UPI’s tally of available figures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As has been the case following previous attacks, little information about Tuesday’s strike was provided by U.S. Southern Command, which said in a statement that Joint Task Force Southern Spear carried out a “lethal kinetic strike” on a vessel allegedly being operated by designated terrorist organizations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Which organizations were operating the boat was not provided.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Black-and-white aerial footage of the strike published to SOUTHCOM’s social media accounts shows a small boat stationary on the water becoming engulfed in a bright light, which, when it dissipated, showed smoke billowing from its hull.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was the fourth boat the U.S. military has attacked since Saturday, when it killed five people in strikes on two alleged drug-trafficking boats. On Monday, it killed two people in a similar strike. SOUTHCOM said all four strikes were in the eastern Pacific.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Since returning to the White House in January 2025, Trump has designated 10 drug cartels and gangs as terrorist organizations as part of his anti-drug trafficking operation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.S. military has been used to attack at least 51 boats the administration claims to be operated by these groups since Sept. 2, according to UPI’s analysis of SOUTHCOM figures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In defense of the strikes, Trump has said the United States is in “armed conflict,” while human rights groups, Democrats and United Nations experts have accused his administration of violating international and maritime law over using the military for what are ostensibly law enforcement actions and for executing suspects without due process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Democrats briefed earlier this year on the operation have also questioned the attacks’ legal and national security justifications, as well as their effectiveness, saying the boats were transporting cocaine, not fentanyl, and that much of the traffic was headed to Europe rather than the United States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n