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The US military has killed at least 221 people in strikes that have destroyed 67 vessels as part of a campaign that Washington says is aimed at curtailing the flow of drugs into the United States, according to official announcements and CNN’s analysis of search and rescue efforts.
There have been at least 26 survivors of those strikes according to the US military, at least three of whom were briefly held by US forces before being returned to their home countries. Some 23 are presumed dead after searches did not locate them in the water.
The most recent strike against an alleged drug-trafficking boat occurred on June 21.
The US Coast Guard launched searches for survivors after several of the strikes, while announcing that other countries’ naval authorities had been contacted after other attacks.
The Trump administration has told Congress that the US is now in an “armed conflict” against drug cartels beginning with its first strike on September 2, labeling those killed “unlawful combatants” and claiming the ability to engage in lethal strikes without judicial review due to a classified Justice Department finding.
Some members of Congress as well as human rights groups have questioned that finding and argued that potential drug traffickers should face prosecution, as had been the policy of interdiction carried out by the US before President Donald Trump took office.
The Trump administration has also not provided public evidence of the presence of narcotics on the boats struck, nor their affiliation with drug cartels.
Military officials have said that no US service members have been harmed in the strikes.
This story has been updated with additional reporting.
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