Third Strike in a Week on Alleged Drug Boat Kills 3

The US military said it carried out another strike on a boat accused of smuggling drugs in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing three men in the third attack this week and pushing the overall death toll above 200 people. US Southern Command announced the latest strike in the monthslong campaign against alleged drug boats traversing the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific with its usual language that the vessel was "engaged in narco-trafficking operations" and operated by a designated terrorist organization, per the AP. It did not elaborate on evidence.

While the military's social media announcements always include video of the attacks, this attack on Friday appears to be the first with the footage in color instead of black and white. The video shows a small vessel floating in the ocean before it's hit and engulfed in a fireball. It cuts to what appears to be the boat in flames, surrounded by a large plume of parcels or some other objects spread around it in the water. The attack puts the death toll at 202 people from the series of US strikes that began in early September, with two other attacks announced Tuesday and Wednesday.