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The U.S. military said Wednesday it struck five suspected drug trafficking boats in two days, killing a total of eight people while others jumped overboard and may have survived.
The U.S. Southern Command, which oversees South America, has not revealed where the attacks on Tuesday and Wednesday took place. Previous attacks took place in the Caribbean Sea and the eastern Pacific Ocean.
Video of Tuesday’s attack posted by Southern Command on social media shows three boats traveling in close formation, which is unusual, and the military said they were part of a convoy along known narcotics trafficking routes and “had transferred narcotics between the three ships before the strikes.”
The military has not provided any evidence to support this claim.
The military said three people were killed when the first boat was struck, while people on the other two boats jumped overboard and moved away from the vessels before they were attacked. Southern Command said it immediately notified the U.S. Coast Guard to activate search and rescue efforts.
The Southern Command statement did not specify whether those who jumped from the boats were rescued.
WATCH | US hits dock in Venezuela:
US President Donald Trump says the strike targeted a drug boat loading facility. Tony Frangie Mawad, a journalist in Venezuela, shares the latest news on escalating tensions.
The use of the Coast Guard is notable because the U.S. military came under close scrutiny after U.S. forces killed survivors of an attack in early September by hitting their disabled boat.
Some Democratic lawmakers and legal experts have said the military committed a crime, while the Trump administration and some Republican lawmakers have said the follow-up strike was legal.
At least 115 dead in strikes since September
U.S. forces attacked two more boats on Wednesday, killing five people who were smuggling drugs along known trafficking routes, Southern Command said in a separate statement.
She did not provide evidence of the alleged trafficking or reveal the body of water in which the attacks took place. Videos posted with the statement on social media showed a boat in the water and explosions.
The latest attacks bring the total number of known boat strikes by the US military to 35 and the number of people killed to at least 115 since the beginning of September, according to figures announced by the Trump administration.
President Donald Trump has justified the attacks as a necessary escalation to stem the flow of drugs into the United States and claimed that the United States is engaged in an “armed conflict” with drug cartels.
Along with the strikes, the Trump administration has been strengthening its military forces in the region as part of a growing pressure campaign against Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, who is accused of narcoterrorism in the United States.
WATCH | The UN discusses the conflict between the United States and Venezuela:
The United Nations Security Council has called an emergency meeting requested by Venezuela regarding U.S. conduct in the Caribbean Sea. Several countries have called on the United States to curb further escalation as it continues to deploy more military assets to the region.
Meanwhile, the CIA was behind a drone strike last week on a docking area believed to have been used by Venezuelan drug cartels, according to two people familiar with the details of the operation who requested anonymity to discuss the classified matter.
It is the first known direct operation on Venezuelan soil since U.S. strikes began in September, a significant escalation in the administration’s pressure campaign on Maduro’s government.
