White House defends attack on boat as lawful

Confirms admiral ordered 2nd strike on alleged drug boat

WASHINGTON:

A US admiral acting under the authority of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered a second strike that targeted survivors of an initial attack on an alleged drug smuggling boat, the White House said Monday.

The legality of the Trump administration's deadly strikes against suspected drug traffickers in the Caribbean and Pacific has been questioned, and reports of the follow-up attack on survivors triggered further accusations of a possible war crime.

Venezuela's leftist leader Nicolas Maduro has accused Washington of using drug trafficking as a pretext for "imposing regime change" in Caracas and rejected a "slave's peace" for the region, amid mounting fears of US military action.

A total of 11 people were killed in the two strikes in early September, the first in a months-long military campaign that has so far left more than 80 dead.

Trump's administration insists it is effectively at war with alleged "narco-terrorists," and the White House said Admiral Frank Bradley, who currently leads US Special Operations Command, had acted legally and properly in ordering a second strike.

Bradley "worked well within his authority and the law directing the engagement to ensure the boat was destroyed and the threat to the United States of America was eliminated," White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told journalists.