Post by : Meena Ariff

President Donald Trump on Sunday addressed reports that the US military carried out a follow-up strike on a Caribbean boat suspected of drug trafficking, which reportedly killed survivors of an initial missile attack.

Trump said he “wouldn’t have wanted” a second strike on the vessel, referring to the September 2 operation — the first publicly reported in a series of attacks targeting suspected drug-trafficking boats in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific.

Reports indicate that after the initial strike, two survivors were seen clinging to the burning vessel before US forces struck again. Sources familiar with the operation claimed that troops had been instructed to “kill everyone on board.”

Trump defended Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, saying: “I’m going to find out about it, but Pete said he did not order the death of those two men.” He added, “We’ll look into it, but no, I wouldn’t have wanted that — not a second strike. The first strike was very lethal.”

Hegseth has dismissed the reports as false.

Since September, US air operations targeting suspected drug-trafficking boats in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific have reportedly killed at least 83 people. The legality of these strikes has been questioned, with calls for a full investigation into whether they constitute extrajudicial killings.

Bipartisan leaders in Congress have announced plans to gather a full account of the operations. Meanwhile, Hegseth drew criticism for posting a mock book cover online depicting the children’s character Franklin the Turtle in military gear targeting boats, adding to the controversy surrounding the strikes.

#Donald Trump