Sources at the Associated Press said that the United States arrested survivors after the attack on a ship suspected of carrying drugs in the Caribbean.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States detained survivors after an attack Thursday on a suspected drug ship in the Caribbean, the first since President Donald Trump began launching deadly attacks in the region this summer, a defense official and another person familiar with the matter said Friday.

This is believed to be at least the sixth strike since early September, and the first to kill survivors detained by the US military. It was not immediately clear what would be done with the individuals who the person said he believed were being held aboard a US military ship.

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They confirmed the strike on the condition of anonymity because it has not yet been publicly acknowledged by the Trump administration.

Thursday’s strike brings the death toll from the Trump administration’s military action against ships in the region to at least 28 people.

Trump justified the strikes by asserting that the United States was engaged in an “armed conflict” with drug cartels, relying on the same legal authority that the Bush administration used when it declared the war on terrorism after the September 11 attacks. This includes the ability to arrest and detain combatants and use lethal force to eliminate their leadership.

Survivors of this strike now face an uncertain future and legal landscape, including questions about whether they are now considered prisoners of war or defendants in a criminal case. The White House did not comment on the strike.

Reuters was the first to report news of the strike late on Thursday.