The U.S. military launched a strike on a boat accused of carrying drugs in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing four people in the fourth such attack announced in the past few days.
The operation is the latest in a series of strikes on vessels that the Trump administration says were trafficking drugs in Latin American waters, a campaign that began more than seven months ago and continues even as the military has been preoccupied with the Iran war.
The latest strike brings the death toll to 175 since the operations began in early September. The U.S. Coast Guard has suspended the search for one survivor from an attack last week.
The military said all the vessels were operated by Designated Terrorist Organisations and that intelligence confirmed they were transiting along known narco-trafficking routes in the Eastern Pacific and were engaged in narco-trafficking operations.
US President Donald Trump has said the U.S. is in armed conflict with cartels in Latin America and has justified the attacks as a necessary escalation to stem the flow of drugs into the United States and fatal overdoses claiming American lives.