US conducts new strike against 'narcoterrorists' in Caribbean

President Donald Trump says attack killed three people and no US troops were harmed

US President Donald Trump posted a video on his Truth Social account about the US military strike on an alleged drug boat. AFP

President Donald Trump on Friday said the US had conducted another strike on alleged drug traffickers operating in the Caribbean.

Mr Trump said the strike killed three "narcoterrorists" belonging to a designated terrorist organisation.

"STOP SELLING FENTANYL, NARCOTICS, AND ILLEGAL DRUGS IN AMERICA, AND COMMITTING VIOLENCE AND TERRORISM AGAINST AMERICANS!!!" the President said in a post on Truth Social.

The post was accompanied by a video apparently showing the strike.

Mr Trump said no US troops had been harmed in the attack.

This is the third strike the US has carried out against alleged drug traffickers in the Caribbean. It was unclear which drug trafficking group had been targeted but the administration said the two previous strikes were against boats operated by the Tren de Aragua group.

The strike comes after the US last month said it would send more than 4,000 sailors and marines to patrol the seas off of Latin America as part of Mr Trump's operation against drug cartels.

Following the first known strike in early September, Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth warned more would come.

“We're not going to allow this activity. You're poisoning our people. We've got incredible assets and they are gathering in the region,” Mr Hegseth told Fox News. “It won't stop with just this strike.”

Chris Dalby, director of World of Crime and author of Tren de Aragua: the Guide to America's Growing Criminal Threat, told The National in a previous interview that it was a "strong possibility" the US would continue to escalate its anti-drug trafficking efforts in the Caribbean.

“The more plaudits that Trump gets, even from his own echo chamber, I think he'll be encouraged to do more and more," he said.

Meanwhile, Venezuela on Friday accused the US of waging an "undeclared war" in the Caribbean.

"You can already see how people, whether or not they are drug traffickers, have been executed in the Caribbean Sea, executed without the right to a defence," said Defence Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez.

Concerns are rising in Latin America that US military action against drug trafficking could eventually include strikes on land targets or even invasion. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has accused Mr Trump of trying to initiate regime change.

Mr Maduro, who has a $50 million US bounty on his head for alleged support for drug trafficking, announced on Thursday that Venezuelan troops would provide residents of low-income neighbourhoods with weapons training.