WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. military said Friday that it has carried out a deadly strike on a vessel accused of trafficking drugs in the eastern Pacific Ocean, the first known attack since theraid that captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduroearlier this month.
U.S. Southern Command said on social media that the boat was "engaged in narco-trafficking operations" and that the strike killed two people and left one survivor. It said it notified the Coast Guard to launch search and rescue operations for that person.
A video accompanying the post announcing the latest strike shows a boat moving through the water before exploding in flames. The U.S. military has focused lately onseizing sanctioned oil tankerswith connections to Venezuela since the Trump administration launchedan audacious raid to capture Maduroand bring him to New York toface drug trafficking charges.
With the latest military action, there have been 36 known strikes against alleged drug smuggling boats in South American waters since early September that killed at least 117 people, according to announcements from the U.S. military and Trump. The majority of those of strikes have occurred in the Caribbean Sea.
The last reportedboat strikesoccurred in late December, when the military said itstruck five alleged drug-smuggling boatsover two days, killing a total of eight people while others jumped overboard. Days later, the Coast Guard suspended its search.
The U.S. conducted a large-scale operation in Caracas, the capital of Venezuela, on Jan. 3 that led to the capture of Maduro and his wife, who were then flown to New York to facefederal drug trafficking charges.
Maduro, before his capture, said the U.S. military operations were a thinly veiledeffort to oust him from power.
President Donald Trump has repeatedly said that the U.S. strikes targeting alleged smugglers are having an enormous impact on slowing drug trafficking routes in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific.
"We've stopped — virtually stopped almost 100% of all drugs coming in by water," Trump said in remarks on Thursday at the World Economic Forum at Davos.
