In a statement on Sunday, SOUTHCOM claimed that the intelligence gathered indicated the targeted vessel was suspected of drug trafficking.

The targeted vessel was sailing in the Caribbean Sea, SOUTHCOM said.

Joint Task Force Western Hemisphere conducted its "lethal, kinetic strike" on the high-speed vessel, it said.

The statement also claimed that the drug boat was moving along established drug-trafficking routes in the Caribbean.

SOUTHCOM also released footage, reportedly showing the vessel moving through the water at high speed before being struck in a flash blast.

However, the US military command did not provide any substantial evidence to prove that the people on the vessel were actually drug smugglers and that the destroyed vessel was carrying drugs on board it.

There is consensus among experts that killing untried people who are merely suspected of committing a crime is against the letter and spirit of the law, Press TV reported. 

Legal experts, including those from the United Nations, have repeatedly emphasized that such strikes by the US military targeting vessels in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean, which are allegedly transporting drugs to America, are unlawful and must stop.

At least 235 people have been killed in 70 boat strikes by the US military since the start of the so-called "narco-trafficking operations" in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific Ocean in September 2025 under direct orders from US President Donald Trump and the supervision of war secretary Pete Hegseth.

MNA