The US military killed four people in a strike on a suspected drug-trafficking vessel in the Caribbean Sea, the US Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) said on Sunday. The operation is the latest in a series of attacks by Washington on vessels it claims are involved in narcotics trafficking, drawing criticism from human rights organisations and international experts over their legality.In a statement posted on X, SOUTHCOM said Joint Task Force Western Hemisphere conducted a “lethal, kinetic strike” on a high-speed vessel operating along established drug-trafficking routes in the Caribbean.“Confirmed intelligence revealed the vessel’s active involvement in narco-trafficking,” the command said, describing those killed in the operation as “narco-terrorists.”SOUTHCOM also released footage of the operation showing the vessel moving through the water before being struck and engulfed in an explosion. However, the command did not provide further details about the intelligence used to establish the vessel’s alleged involvement in drug trafficking.The Trump administration has maintained that vessels targeted in such operations since September 2025 were transporting narcotics. US strikes in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific have killed more than 220 people so far.However, the operations have faced mounting criticism from human rights groups and legal experts, who have questioned their legality and described them as extrajudicial killings.Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and independent United Nations experts have called the strikes unlawful extrajudicial killings.Ben Saul, the UN special rapporteur on human rights and counterterrorism, has said there are “reasonable grounds to believe” such attacks “constituted crimes against humanity of murder under customary international law.”The American Civil Liberties Union has also criticised the Trump administration’s claims against those targeted, calling them “unsubstantiated, fear-mongering claims.”
