{"id":4182,"date":"2026-05-30T02:39:43","date_gmt":"2026-05-30T02:39:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usglobalnews.com\/2026\/05\/30\/us-military-strikes-another-boat-in-pacific-bringing-death-toll-above-200\/"},"modified":"2026-05-30T02:39:43","modified_gmt":"2026-05-30T02:39:43","slug":"us-military-strikes-another-boat-in-pacific-bringing-death-toll-above-200","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/?p=4182","title":{"rendered":"US military strikes another boat in Pacific, bringing death toll above 200"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"border-color:var(--article-border);background-color:var(--article-inner-background)\" class=\"dcr-wqti5a\">\n<div class=\"dcr-2zxs1v\">\n<div style=\"--grid-area:media\" data-gu-name=\"media\" class=\"dcr-1fnjjtg\">\n<div class=\"dcr-14emo0l\">\n<div class=\"dcr-tr9ye5\">\n<figure id=\"4b551e22-eebc-473b-9601-490a5ee31489\" class=\"dcr-142siv7\">\n<div id=\"img-1\" class=\"dcr-1t8m8f2\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Aerial, color view of fireball above boat on ocean.\" src=\"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/5ff88ba8d983401998608404cfb764048948c270\/267_0_1458_1168\/master\/1458.jpg?width=465&amp;dpr=1&amp;s=none&amp;crop=none\" width=\"465\" height=\"372.51028806584367\" loading=\"eager\" class=\"dcr-evn1e9\"><span class=\"dcr-v822l1\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"dcr-gup2gr\">\n<div class=\"dcr-fntg6k\"><label for=\"the-checkbox\" class=\"dcr-1xgwz8b\"><\/label> <\/p>\n<div id=\"the-caption\"><figcaption data-spacefinder-role=\"inline\" class=\"dcr-1os51wo\"><span class=\"dcr-hvsf4t\"><\/span><span class=\"dcr-1qvd3m6\">A screenshot from a US Southern Command X post.<\/span> Composite: US Southern Command via X<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/span><a href=\"#img-1\" data-ignore=\"global-link-styling\" class=\"open-lightbox dcr-13fd1ms\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><button data-element-id=\"4b551e22-eebc-473b-9601-490a5ee31489\" type=\"button\" class=\"open-lightbox dcr-4tmywn\" aria-haspopup=\"dialog\"><span class=\"dcr-194i6pr\">View image in fullscreen<\/span><\/button><\/a><\/div>\n<p><span class=\"dcr-n4pnam\"><figcaption data-spacefinder-role=\"inline\" class=\"dcr-1hdkqum\"><span class=\"dcr-hvsf4t\"><\/span><span class=\"dcr-1qvd3m6\">A screenshot from a US Southern Command X post.<\/span> Composite: US Southern Command via X<\/figcaption><\/span><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"--grid-area:border\" data-gu-name=\"border\" class=\"dcr-1fnjjtg\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"--grid-area:headline\" data-gu-name=\"headline\" class=\"dcr-1fnjjtg\">\n<div class=\"dcr-14emo0l\">\n<div class=\"dcr-1aqe7zu\">\n<h1 class=\"dcr-1k1a1x\">US military strikes another boat in Pacific, bringing death toll above 200<\/h1>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"--grid-area:standfirst\" data-gu-name=\"standfirst\" class=\"dcr-1fnjjtg\">\n<div class=\"dcr-15in7js\">\n<p>Three men killed in third attack this week amid Trump administration\u2019s campaign against alleged drug boats<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"--grid-area:body\" data-gu-name=\"body\" class=\"dcr-kn9unn\">\n<div class=\"dcr-1a4fred\">\n<div id=\"maincontent\" class=\"dcr-ydnaza\">\n<div class=\"article-body-commercial-selector article-body-viewer-selector dcr-1c9t5u6\">\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/us-military\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">US military<\/a> said it had carried out another strike Friday on a boat accused of smuggling drugs in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing three men in the third attack this week and pushing the overall death toll above 200 people.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">US Southern Command announced the latest strike in the months-long campaign against alleged drug boats traversing the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific with its usual language that the vessel was \u201cengaged in narco-trafficking operations\u201d and operated by a designated terrorist organization. It provided no evidence.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Southern Command said in its post on X that the strike came at the direction of Gen Francis L Donovan, the top US commander in Latin America, who on Friday also met with Cuban military leaders near the US Navy base in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/guantanamo-bay\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">Guant\u00e1namo Bay<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">While the military\u2019s social media announcements always include video of the attacks, this appears to be the first with the footage in color instead of black and white. The video shows a small vessel floating in the ocean before it\u2019s hit and engulfed in a fireball. It cuts to what could be the boat in flames, surrounded by a large plume of parcels or some other objects spread around it in the water.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">The attack puts the death toll at 202 people from the series of US strikes that began in early September, with two other attacks announced Tuesday and Wednesday. The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/trump-administration\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">Trump administration<\/a> has declared that the US is at armed conflict with Latin American drug cartels, saying they are behind the flow of drugs into American communities. However, the administration has not provided definitive evidence that the vessels are involved in drug trafficking, prompting debate about the legality of the operations.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Experts and human rights advocates, both in the US and globally, have raised questions about their legality, with Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International saying the strikes amount to \u201cunlawful extrajudicial killings\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">The American Civil Liberties Union casts the assertions by the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/trump-administration\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" data-component=\"auto-linked-tag\">Trump administration<\/a> against those it targets as \u201cunsubstantiated, fear-mongering claims\u201d.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div data-print-layout=\"hide\" class=\"dcr-qxqnsy\"><span class=\"dcr-1rq3vad\">Explore more on these topics<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"dcr-1dzx48f\">\n<ul class=\"dcr-1rrvs2w\">\n<li class=\"dcr-hj8byr\"><a href=\"\/us-news\/us-military\" class=\"dcr-1gwziyt\">US military<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"dcr-hj8byr\"><a href=\"\/us-news\/trump-administration\" class=\"dcr-1gwziyt\">Trump administration<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"dcr-hj8byr\"><a href=\"\/us-news\/us-foreign-policy\" class=\"dcr-1gwziyt\">US foreign policy<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"dcr-hj8byr\"><a href=\"\/us-news\/us-politics\" class=\"dcr-1gwziyt\">US politics<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"dcr-hj8byr\"><a href=\"\/tone\/news\" class=\"dcr-1gwziyt\">news<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"dcr-nu129i\"><a href=\"mailto:?subject=US%20military%20strikes%20another%20boat%20in%20Pacific,%20bringing%20death%20toll%20above%20200&amp;body=https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/2026\/may\/29\/us-military-boat-strike-pacific?CMP=share_btn_url\" class=\"dcr-125qj9d\">Share<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"dcr-zhx6xs\"><a data-link-name=\"meta-syndication-article\" href=\"https:\/\/syndication.theguardian.com\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fus-news%2F2026%2Fmay%2F29%2Fus-military-boat-strike-pacific&amp;type=article&amp;internalpagecode=us-news\/2026\/may\/29\/us-military-boat-strike-pacific\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\" title=\"Reuse this content\" class=\"dcr-14rjinq\">Reuse this content<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"--grid-area:right-column\" data-gu-name=\"right-column\" class=\"dcr-1h2hraq\">\n<div class=\"dcr-tn16h9\">\n<section class=\"dcr-1hko8ef\"><\/section>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A screenshot from a US Southern Command X post. Composite: US Southern Command via X View image in<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":4184,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4182","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4182","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4182"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4182\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4184"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4182"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4182"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4182"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}