US admiral ordered a second strike on survivors of an initial attack on an alleged drug smuggling boat, with the White House defending its legality.
WASHINGTON: The White House confirmed a US admiral ordered a second military strike targeting survivors of an initial attack on an alleged drug smuggling boat.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth authorised Admiral Frank Bradley to conduct the “double-tap” operation in early September, said White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt.
She stated Bradley “worked well within his authority and the law directing the engagement to ensure the boat was destroyed and the threat to the United States of America was eliminated.”
A total of 11 people were killed in the two strikes, which were part of a months-long campaign that has left more than 80 dead.
The Trump administration insists it is effectively at war with alleged “narco-terrorists.”
Reports of the follow-up attack on survivors have triggered accusations of a possible war crime.
Democratic Senators Jacky Rosen and Chris Van Hollen have said the September 2 strikes may constitute a war crime.
The military action appears to conflict with the Pentagon’s own Law of War Manual, which states orders to fire upon the shipwrecked are “clearly illegal.”
Senator Mark Kelly, a former fighter pilot, called for a Congressional investigation into the incident.
“I’m concerned that if there were, in fact, as reported, survivors clinging to a damaged vessel, that that could be over a line,” Kelly told a news conference.
Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell had previously insisted media reports about the second strike were “false.”
Hegseth has defended all strikes, stating they are “in compliance with the law of armed conflict.”
The operations have heightened regional tensions, with Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro accusing Washington of using drug trafficking as a pretext for “imposing regime change.”
President Donald Trump has deployed significant military assets to the Caribbean for counter-narcotics operations.
