US military says it killed three people in latest Caribbean boat strike

NEW YORK, April 19 (Reuters) – U.S. forces killed three men whom the military described as illicit drug smugglers in a strike on a boat in the Caribbean, U.S. Southern Command said on Sunday.

• Southern Command posted what it said was video of the strike on social media platform X, showing an explosion of a small boat traveling on open water.

• The boat was traveling on “known narco-trafficking routes in the Caribbean,” Southern Command said.

• The U.S. military has so far killed 157 alleged members or affiliates of drug organizations in 45 strikes against drug trafficking vessels in the Western Hemisphere, a senior U.S. defense official said last month.

(Reporting by Katie Paul in New York; Editing by Sergio Non nd Stephen Coates)