Trending 
A top Democratic lawmaker, Jim Himes, has raised alarm over a US military strike that killed “shipwrecked sailors” who survived an earlier attack on a suspected drug-trafficking vessel.
Representative Himes, the senior Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said video shown during a classified hearing revealed the incident, which occurred on September 2 and is part of a series of operations targeting alleged narcotics-smuggling boats that have left more than 80 people dead.
“You have two individuals in clear distress without any means of locomotion, with a destroyed vessel, who were killed by the United States,” Himes told reporters, describing the footage as “one of the most troubling things I’ve seen in my time in public service.”
He emphasised that the sailors were in no position to pose an imminent threat.
Republican Representative Don Bacon also expressed concern, noting that the rules of war prohibit targeting individuals trying to survive who do not present an immediate danger.
“The rules are that they have to pose an imminent threat. And I think we could say they did not pose an imminent threat to our country,” Bacon said.
The White House and Pentagon have sought to distance Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth from the decision to strike the survivors, attributing operational oversight to Admiral Frank Bradley.
Himes said Bradley indicated Hegseth did not order the killing of the boat’s crew, though Bacon stressed that, as secretary of defence, Hegseth bears ultimate responsibility.
The strikes form part of the Trump administration’s counter-narcotics campaign in the Caribbean, which has involved deploying the world’s largest aircraft carrier and other military assets.
The operations have sparked regional tensions, with Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro accusing the United States of using drug trafficking as a pretext for attempting regime change in Caracas.
