Source : INDIA TODAY NEWS
The US military said on Monday it carried out a strike on a vessel in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing two people it accused of drug trafficking. It was the first such attack announced in about two months and took the death toll in the nearly year-long campaign to more than 210.
According to the US military, more than 60 strikes have been carried out off Latin America’s Caribbean coast and in the eastern Pacific Ocean since early September. The latest action comes as the Trump administration seeks agreements with allied countries to widen its campaign against criminal groups in the region.
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US Southern Command said on social media that forces had “executed a lethal kinetic strike on a low-profile vessel operating along established narcotrafficking routes in the Eastern Pacific”. As with most of the military’s statements on strikes in the eastern Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea, the Pentagon did not provide evidence that the vessel was carrying drugs. The strike on Sunday was the first since the powerful back-to-back June 24 earthquakes that killed thousands of people.
“We are committed to imposing total systemic friction on narco-terrorists – disrupting their operations, dismantling their leadership, and eliminating cartel terror across the region,” said Gen Francis Donovan, who heads US Southern Command.
The latest strike comes as the Trump administration pursues deals with allied nations to extend its offensive to land across several Latin American countries. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said during a visit to Panama this month that Colombia, Guatemala and Honduras had agreed to allow the US to conduct joint military operations against criminal groups on their soil. Guatemala denied reaching such a deal. Ecuador launched similar missions with the US in March.
President Donald Trump has said the US is in “armed conflict” with cartels in Latin America and has defended the attacks as a necessary escalation to curb the flow of drugs into the US and prevent fatal overdoses. However, his administration has offered little evidence to support its claims of killing “narcoterrorists”.
Critics have questioned both the legality of the boat strikes and their effectiveness, partly because the fentanyl linked to many fatal overdoses is usually trafficked into the US over land from Mexico, where it is produced using chemicals imported from China and India. The strikes have drawn scrutiny from some Democratic lawmakers and military legal scholars. In May, the Pentagon’s watchdog said it would examine whether the US military followed the established targeting framework while carrying out the strikes. The inspector general’s office said the review would focus on the six-phase Joint Targeting Cycle and not on the legality of the strikes. In sum, the latest strike adds to a widening US campaign that is drawing both military backing and legal scrutiny.
With PTI Inputs
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SOURCE :- TIMES OF INDIA
