Three killed in U.S. attacks against three drug-trafficking vessels

(AFP) The US military announced Wednesday that three people were killed in attacks on three boats engaged in drug trafficking in international waters, bringing to at least 110 the death toll in an offensive that Washington says is combating narcotics smuggling.

The US Southern Command, responsible for US forces operating in Central America and South America, said that the attacks carried out on Tuesday targeted "three drug trafficking boats traveling in convoy.".

The three people killed were on the same boat.

The exact location of the attacks was not immediately clear. Previous attacks have occurred in the Caribbean or in the eastern Pacific.

The military said the vessels attacked were operated by "Designated Terrorist Organizations," which it did not identify.

Alongside the official statement, posted on the X network, a video showed three boats sailing together at sea and then a series of explosions hit them.

"Three narcoterrorists aboard the first boat were killed in the first confrontation. The remaining narcoterrorists abandoned the other two boats, jumping overboard and moving away before subsequent clashes sank their respective vessels," it said.

The Army stated that it had notified the Coast Guard to "activate the Search and Rescue system," without providing further details on the fate of those aboard the other boats.

Since September, the US military has carried out more than 30 such raids against what it claims are boats used to smuggle drugs into the United States.

In recent months, the U.S. president, Donald Trump, has waged a pressure campaign against Venezuela's dictator, Nicolás Maduro, whom he accuses of running a drug cartel.

Maduro denies this and accuses Washington of seeking regime change to appropriate the South American country's huge oil reserves.