ByREUTERS

The US "executed a lethal, kinetic strike on a go-fast vessel operating along established narco-trafficking routes in the Caribbean," US Southern Command said on X/Twitter.

It cited what it called "confirmed intelligence" to allege the vessel's active involvement in narco-trafficking, without providing more details.

It added that four people, whom it called "narco-terrorists," were killed.

US President Donald ​Trump's administration has said the vessels it has struck since September 2025 were transporting narcotics.

An explosion following what the US military says was a strike on a vessel at a location given as the Caribbean, on date given as October 4, 2026, in this still image obtained from a video.
An explosion following what the US military says was a strike on a vessel at a location given as the Caribbean, on date given as October 4, 2026, in this still image obtained from a video. (credit: US Southern Command/Handout via Reuters)

Rights advocates question legality of strikes

US strikes on such vessels in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific have killed more than ​220 people.

Experts and rights advocates in the US and abroad have questioned the legality of the strikes.

Human ​Rights Watch, ⁠Amnesty International and independent UN experts have called the strikes unlawful extrajudicial ​killings.

Ben Saul, UN special rapporteur on human rights and counterterrorism, has said there are "reasonable grounds to believe" such attacks "constituted crimes against humanity of murder under customary international law."

The American Civil ⁠Liberties ​Union has cast the assertions by ​the Trump administration against those it targets as "unsubstantiated, fear-mongering claims."