The strike took place on the same day Admiral Frank Mitch Bradley attended a series of closed door classified briefings at the US Capitol as lawmakers began investigating the initial military strike on September 2.
US Southern Command announced that it carried out another strike on a small boat in the eastern Pacific Ocean after a pause of nearly three weeks. Thursday’s strike is the 22nd conducted by the US military against boats in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean that the Trump administration said were trafficking drugs.
According to the social media post, four people were killed in the latest strike, bringing the overall death toll of the campaign to at least 87.
A video released with the announcement shows a small boat moving across the water before a sudden large explosion engulfs it. The footage then zooms out to reveal the vessel covered in flames and thick smoke.
The strike occurred on the same day Admiralย Frank Mitch Bradley appeared for a round of closed-door classified briefings at the US Capitol as lawmakers opened an investigation into the first military strike on September 2. The sessions followed a report that Bradley had ordered a follow-on attack that killed the survivors to comply with Defense Secretary Pete Hegsethโs demands.
Bradley told lawmakers there was no “kill them all” order from Hegseth, though stark video footage of the attacks left several lawmakers deeply concerned.
Legal experts have warned that killing survivors of a maritime strike may violate the laws of armed conflict.
Bradley addressed lawmakers alongside the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Dan Caine, during a classified session. His testimony offered new details at a critical moment as scrutiny of Hegsethโs leadership intensifies, though it did little to resolve growing concerns about the legal basis for President Donald Trumpโs unprecedented use of war powers against suspected drug smugglers.
Lawmakers gave differing accounts of what they saw in the footage.
Republican Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas said he saw the survivors “trying to flip a boat loaded with drugs bound for United States back over so they could stay in the fight”.
Connecticut Rep. Jim Himes, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said, “What I saw in that room was one of the most troubling things I’ve seen in my time in public service.” He added, “You have two individuals in clear distress, without any means of locomotion, with a destroyed vessel,” and said they “were killed by the United States.”
Washington Rep. Adam Smith, the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, said the survivors were “basically two shirtless people clinging to the bow of a capsized and inoperable boat, drifting in the water โ until the missiles come and kill them”.
With inputs from AP