Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced this on Sunday Another American attack A few days ago on an alleged drug smuggling boat.
“On October 17, at the direction of President Trump, the War Department conducted a deadly attack on a ship affiliated with the Ejército de Liberación Nacional (ELN), a designated terrorist organization, operating in the USSOUTHCOM area of responsibility,” Hegseth said. said in a post On social platform X.
He added, “Our intelligence revealed the ship was involved in illegal drug trafficking, was traveling on a known drug-trafficking route and was transporting a substantial quantity of narcotics.”
According to Hegseth, the attack occurred in international waters and killed three passengers on board the ship. Hegseth’s post also showed a video of a boat moving in the water, followed immediately by an explosion.
The US military has launched several attacks on alleged drug-trafficking boats in the Caribbean Sea in recent months, killing dozens in the process. The President recently announced that the U.S. now included in one “Armed conflicts” with drug cartels, which the White House calls terrorist groups, provide a legal rationale for military actions. The Ejército de Liberation Nacional is a Colombian armed group.
On Sunday, Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said the recent attacks in the US “go against all our traditions”.
“When you kill somebody, you need to know, if you’re not at war, not in a declared war, you really need to at least know somebody’s name,” Paul said. on nbc news “meet the Press.”
He said, “You have to charge them with something. You have to present evidence. So all these people have been blown up without knowing their names, without any evidence of any crime.”
