US military says it killed four men in strike on suspected drug vessel
In short:
Four people have been killed in a US strike on a suspected drug vessel in the East Pacific.
Since September 2, more than 80 people have been killed in more than 20 strikes in the Caribbean and Pacific.
What's next?
A double strike on September 2 remains under scrutiny with US politicians questioning if it violated the law of war.
The US military says it has killed four men in a strike on a suspected drug vessel in international waters in the Eastern Pacific.
"Intelligence confirmed that the vessel was carrying illicit narcotics and transiting along a known narco-trafficking route in the Eastern Pacific," the US military Southern Command said in a statement on social media.
The statement said it had conducted a "a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel in international waters operated by a Designated Terrorist Organization" on December 4, local time.
It said it acted at the direction of United States Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth.
The Eastern Pacific Ocean covers the west coast of the Americas, crossing 13 countries from Canada to Chile.
The US military has been targeting vessels US President Donald Trump says are suspected of being used to smuggle drugs from South America to the US since early September.
The strikes began on September 2 when a Venezuelan boat was struck multiple times, killing 11 people.
Mr Hegseth is currently facing scrutiny for authorising a follow-up strike that killed survivors of the initial attack.
Some politicians have questioned if the attack violated the law of war, which prohibits firing upon the shipwrecked.
There have been more than 20 US military strikes in the Caribbean and Pacific against suspected drug vessels this year that have killed more than 80 people.
Admiral says there was no 'kill them all' order
Admiral Frank Bradley has briefed members of Congress on the strike. (Reuters: Evelyn Hockstein)
The latest strike comes as Admiral Frank Bradley, who was the head of the Joint Special Operations Command at the time of the September 2 strike, and Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, briefed politicians on the operation and showed an unedited video of the second strike.
"You have two individuals in clear distress, without any means of locomotion, with a destroyed vessel, who were killed by the United States," Representative Jim Himes of Connecticut, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, told reporters after the briefing.
He added that it was "one of the most troubling things" he had seen but said Admiral Bradley confirmed he did not receive a "kill them all" order.
Republican senator Tom Cotton, who heads the Senate Intelligence Committee, has defended the strike.
"I saw two survivors trying to flip a boat, loaded with drugs bound for the United States, back over so they could stay in the fight," Mr Cotton said, adding it was possible that other suspected drug boats could have come to their aid and recovered the drugs onboard.
It is unclear if the video of the follow-up strike will be released publicly. Mr Trump has said he would have no problem if the video were released.
Before the briefing, a US official said Admiral Bradley, who now heads US Special Operations Command, would tell politicians that the survivors were legitimate targets for a second attack because their vessel was still believed to contain illegal narcotics.
ABC/Wires