Over 60 Killed in U.S. Airstrikes on Suspected Narco-Traffickers as Campaign Expands Across Caribbean and Pacific

U.S. forces launched another lethal strike on a suspected drug-smuggling vessel, prompting the UN human-rights chief to accuse Washington of breaching international law even as Hegseth insists he has “every authorization needed” to act.

Undeterred by condemnation from senior United Nations officials, the United States announced another lethal airstrike on alleged drug smugglers in the Caribbean Sea.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth made the announcement on Saturday, saying that three people were killed in the strike, the 15th such bombing in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific since the campaign began in September. According to Mr. Hegseth, the targeted vessel “was known by our intelligence to be involved in illicit narcotics smuggling, was transiting along a known narco-trafficking route, and carrying narcotics.” The Secretary of Defense did not disclose which of the designated “narcoterrorist” groups to which those killed were purported to have belonged. In total, at least 64 people have been killed in the strikes.

Even as the United States continues to attack the vessels belonging to alleged narco terrorists in the region, justifying the strikes as necessary to address the flow of drugs into the country, human rights officials have sounded the alarm over a campaign they say violates both American and international law.