The US military struck a speedboat in the Caribbean Sea on 4 October, killing all four people on board, US Southern Command said. It says the boat was carrying drugs but has offered no evidence of the cargo.
The strike was carried out by Joint Task Force Western Hemisphere, which reports to Southern Command. There were no survivors, and the dead have not been identified.
In its statement, Southern Command described the four as involved in drug trafficking. It says the boat was on known drug-smuggling routes and was actively carrying drugs, and that it has confirmed intelligence about the boat's activity.
The US military has been striking boats in the Caribbean and the eastern Pacific since September 2025. At least 235 people have been killed in such operations since the campaign began, according to Reuters.
President Donald Trump's administration presents the strikes as part of a fight against groups Washington calls narco-terrorist, and insists the boats it hits are carrying drugs. US officials have rarely made such evidence public after earlier strikes in the campaign either.
Human rights groups and international law experts are asking what legal basis there is for these deadly operations, and Reuters says some critics call them extrajudicial killings. It remains disputed whether the people on such boats pose an immediate military threat and whether the rules of armed conflict apply to them. No international legal assessment of the 4 October strike has been carried out.