US Attacks 5 Boats, Saying Rescuers Looked for Survivors

The US military has reported striking five boats the Trump administration says were smuggling drugs over two days, killing a total of eight people while others jumped overboard and may have survived. US Southern Command did not reveal where the attacks on Tuesday and Wednesday occurred. A video of Tuesday's attack posted by Southern Command on social media shows three boats traveling in a close formation, which is unusual, and the military said they were in a convoy along known narco-trafficking routes and "had transferred narcotics between the three vessels prior to the strikes." The military did not provide evidence for the claim, the AP reports.

The military said three people were killed when the first boat was struck, while people in the other two boats jumped overboard and moved away from the vessels before they were attacked. Southern Command said it immediately notified the US Coast Guard to activate search and rescue efforts. The statement did not say whether those who jumped off the boats were rescued. Calling in the Coast Guard is a change; the military drew heavy scrutiny after killing the survivors of an attack in early September with a follow-up strike to their disabled boat. Some Democratic lawmakers and legal experts said the military committed a crime, while the administration and some Republican lawmakers say the follow-up strike was legal.

US forces attacked two more boats on Wednesday, killing five people the US claims were smuggling drugs along known trafficking routes. In a separate statement, the Southern Command did not provide evidence of trafficking or reveal the body of water in which the attacks occurred. Previous attacks have been in the Caribbean Sea and in the eastern Pacific Ocean. Videos posted with the statement on social media showed a boat in the water and explosions. The latest attacks bring the total number of known boat strikes to 35 and the number of people killed to at least 115 since early September, according to numbers announced by the Trump administration.