At least 133 people have been killed in US attacks on vessels in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean since September.
The United States military has attacked a boat in the Caribbean Sea, killing three people, as it continues deadly air strikes that have killed at least 133 people since September 2025.
US Southern Command (SOUTHCOM), which oversees military operations in Latin America and the Caribbean, said US forces “conducted a lethal kinetic strike” earlier on Friday, killing three people.
![A screengrab of a video posted by US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth on October 29, 2025, reportedly showing the aftermath of a strike on an alleged drug smuggling vessel in the Western Pacific Ocean. [Screengrab / US Defense Department]](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Screenshot-2025-10-30-at-09.31.30-1761787921.png?resize=770%2C513&quality=80)
The US military again repeated its claim, without providing any evidence, that it was targeting people suspected of drug trafficking, and described those slain in the attack as “narco-terrorists”.
SOUTHCOM released a video of the attack that appears to show a missile strike on the boat which then explodes into flames, leaving the vessel obliterated.
International law and human rights experts have repeatedly said such attacks amount to extrajudicial executions, even if those targeted are alleged to be engaged in trafficking drugs.
The killings on Friday follow an attack on Monday in the eastern Pacific Ocean, where SOUTHCOM said it struck a vessel, killing two people and leaving one survivor.
SOUTHCOM said it had notified the US Coast Guard that there was a survivor from the attack, but did not provide details on the survivor’s condition or chances of rescue and survival.
The first attack by US forces on vessels in international waters, which took place in September 2025, included a follow-up strike that killed survivors who were clinging to the wreckage of a destroyed boat.
US administration officials, including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and the commander of the operation, Admiral Frank Bradley, were placed under scrutiny for the order to carry out the second attack on survivors.
Legal experts said that the US military could be involved in a crime for killing the survivors of a shipwreck.
According to monitors and tallies kept by media organisations, the US has now carried out some 38 attacks against 40 vessels in the eastern Pacific and Caribbean Sea, killing at least 133 people, including an attack that killed two people earlier this week.
US President Donald Trump has said the US is engaged in an “armed conflict” with cartels in Latin America and has justified the attacks as a necessary escalation to stem the flow of drugs to the US.
Legal experts have said that the US has no legal right to carry out attacks in international waters and that people alleged to be involved with drug trafficking have a right to due process under the law.
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