The US military struck three more alleged drug boats, killing 3 people and possibly leaving survivors

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. military said Wednesday it bombed three more boats allegedly smuggling drugs, killing three people while others jumped overboard and may have survived.

The statement by the US Southern Command, which oversees South America, did not reveal the location of the attacks. Previous attacks have occurred in the Caribbean Sea and in the eastern Pacific Ocean.

A video posted on social media by Southern Command shows the boats traveling in close formation, which is unusual, and the military said they were in convoy along known drug smuggling routes and “transferred drugs between the three ships before the strikes.” The army did not provide evidence to support this claim.

The army said that three people were killed when the first boat was hit, while people in the other two boats jumped overboard and moved away from the two ships before attacking them. Southern Command said it immediately informed the US Coast Guard to activate search and rescue efforts.

The attacks occurred on Tuesday. The Southern Command statement did not say whether those who jumped from the boats were rescued.

The Coast Guard call-up is noteworthy because the U.S. military has come under intense scrutiny after U.S. forces killed survivors of an attack in early September with a subsequent strike on their crippled boat. Some Democratic lawmakers and legal experts have said the military committed a crime, while the Trump administration and some Republican lawmakers say the subsequent strike was lawful.

The latest attacks bring the total number of known boat attacks to 33 and the number of people killed to at least 110 since early September, according to figures announced by the Trump administration.

Read more: All US military strikes against alleged drug boats

President Donald Trump justified the attacks as a necessary escalation to stop the flow of drugs into the United States and asserted that the United States was engaged in an “armed conflict” with drug cartels.

Along with the strikes, the Trump administration has built up military forces in the region as part of an escalating pressure campaign on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, who has been charged with drug-related terrorism in the United States.

Meanwhile, the CIA was behind a drone attack last week on a docking area believed to be used by Venezuelan drug cartels, according to two people familiar with the details of the operation who requested anonymity to discuss the classified matter.

It was the first known direct operation on Venezuelan soil since the United States began strikes in September, a major escalation in the administration’s pressure campaign on Maduro’s government.