U.S. Carries Out 50th Strike on Suspected Drug Boat, Killing Four

Overview

• U.S. Southern Command, which carried out a strike Tuesday, said four men on a small vessel in the Eastern Pacific were killed.
• Southcom posted a short video on X that shows the boat explode after a hit, and it said the target was on a known smuggling route based on undisclosed intelligence.
• The latest action marked about the 50th strike since last year, with more than 170 people killed and roughly 51 boats destroyed according to tallies reported by major outlets.
• The strike followed a lethal pace in recent days, including five deaths across two boats on Saturday and two more on Monday in the same region.
• The Pentagon frames the effort as a war on “narcoterrorists,” while international law experts and the U.N. human-rights chief warn the killings risk extrajudicial executions.