WASHINGTON: The United States military killed 11 people on Tuesday (Sep 2) in a strike on a vessel from Venezuela allegedly carrying illegal narcotics, President Donald Trump said, in the first known operation since his administration’s recent deployment of warships to the southern Caribbean.
Trump told reporters at the White House: “We just, over the last few minutes, literally shot out a boat, a drug-carrying boat, a lot of drugs in that boat.”
“And there’s more where that came from. We have a lot of drugs pouring into our country, coming in for a long time … These came out of Venezuela,” Trump said.
He later shared a video on his Truth Social platform that appeared to show footage from overhead drones of a speedboat at sea exploding and then on fire.
“The strike resulted in 11 terrorists killed in action. No US Forces were harmed in this strike,” Trump said.
He added that the US military had identified the crew as members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, which the US designated a terrorist group in February. He repeated allegations that Tren de Aragua is being controlled by Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro, accusations that Caracas denies.
The Venezuelan Communications Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Pentagon has not released specifics about the attack, including what kind of drugs were on board, the quantity, or how the strike was carried out.
The decision to blow up a suspected drug vessel passing through the Caribbean, instead of seizing the vessel and apprehending its crew, is highly unusual and evokes memories of the US fight against militant groups like al Qaeda.
The United States has deployed warships in the southern Caribbean in recent weeks with the aim of following through on a pledge by Trump to crack down on drug cartels.
Tuesday’s strike appeared to be the first such military operation in the region to that effect.
Seven US warships, along with one nuclear-powered fast attack submarine, are either in the region or expected to be there soon, carrying more than 4,500 sailors and Marines.
