US military kills three in another strike on Caribbean vessel

The United States has carried out another strike on a ship in the Caribbean, according to Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, killing at least three men on board the vessel.

In a post on X late on Saturday, Hegseth said the attack was carried out on the orders of US President Donald Trump and targeted a vessel that “was known by our intelligence to be involved in illicit narcotics smuggling”.

He said “three male narco-terrorists” were on board the vessel during the strike, which was conducted in international waters.

All three were killed, he added.

The attack on Saturday follows another on Wednesday that killed four men and a series of bombings that killed 14 others on Monday.

The operation, which began in early September, has killed more than 62 people, including nationals from Venezuela and Colombia, and destroyed 14 boats and a semi-submersible.

The Trump administration has said the attacks are targeting alleged drug smuggling, but has yet to present any evidence to the public to substantiate its claims.

Critics have called the strikes a form of extrajudicial killing and a violation of international law, which largely prohibits countries from using lethal military force against noncombatants outside a conflict zone.

The United Nations’s High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk decried the attacks “and their mounting human cost” as “unacceptable” in a statement on Friday.

“The US must halt such attacks and take all measures necessary to prevent the extrajudicial killing of people aboard these boats, whatever the criminal conduct alleged against them,” Turk said.

The attacks come against the backdrop of a US military buildup in the Caribbean that includes guided-missile destroyers, F-35 fighter jets, a nuclear submarine, and thousands of troops.

The Trump administration has ordered the Ford carrier strike group to the region, and it is expected to reach the Caribbean in the coming weeks.

The US campaign has raised tensions with Venezuela and Colombia, with the Venezuelan government denouncing the strikes as illegal and an aggression against the country.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, who has shored up his security powers and deployed tens of thousands of troops around the country, has also accused Trump of seeking regime change – an allegation the US president has downplayed.

Washington in August doubled its reward for information leading to Maduro’s arrest to $50m, accusing him of links to drug trafficking and criminal groups.

Trump has also previously confirmed he has authorised the CIA to conduct covert operations in Venezuela.

Earlier on Saturday, Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs denounced the “excessive military force” deployed by the US in the Caribbean and reaffirmed its support for Venezuela’s leaders.

“Such actions are in violation of both US domestic legislation … and the norms of international law,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said in a commentary on her ministry’s website.

She added that Russia “confirms our firm support for the Venezuelan leadership in defending its national sovereignty”.