The US military shot at Caribbean boats.
The US military has launched a second attack on survivors after a missile attack on a boat in the Caribbean, US media reported, an action that was carried out on the direct orders of the US Secretary of War and is now facing charges of “extrajudicial killing” and “clear violation of the law.”
According to ISNA, the US military has launched a second attack after attacking a boat in the Caribbean that was said to be carrying drugs, killing survivors of the first attack.
According to a report by the Washington Post and CNN, which quoted informed sources, US forces had received an order from US Secretary of War Pete Hegsett before the operation, stating that “everyone on the boat should be killed.” One source told the Washington Post: “The order was to kill everyone.”
The incident occurred on September 2, the first public attack in a series of operations the United States claims to be conducting against drug-trafficking boats in international waters in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific. The Trump administration has not provided any evidence to support its claims, but the campaign has reportedly killed at least 83 people.
According to the Washington Post, in the September 2 attack, after the initial shot, U.S. forces saw two survivors clinging to the burning boat, but instead of rescuing them, they fired again.
After the incident, operational protocols were changed, and it was decided to rescue the survivors. CNN wrote that it was not clear whether Hegst knew about the survivors before the second attack.
Responding to reports on social media on Friday, Hegsett claimed that the current US operation in the Caribbean was “completely legal” and called the reports “fake news,” although he did not mention the September 2 incident.
The US Department of Justice has defended the operation, saying that the military’s actions were “consistent with the law of armed conflict.” The US government has said the operation will continue.
Democratic Congressman Seth Moulton, a US Marine veteran, called the operation illegal, saying in response to the Washington Post report: “This killing of survivors is clearly illegal. Sooner or later, Americans will be tried for this action, whether as a war crime or as murder.”
In a statement to Congress, the Pentagon has said the US is in an “armed conflict” with Latin American drug cartels, describing the groups as “terrorists” and the suspected traffickers as “unlawful combatants.”
At the same time, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk called on Washington to investigate the legitimacy of these attacks, saying there were “strong indications” that these actions constituted “extrajudicial killings.”