Death Toll From Strikes Against Alleged Drug Boats Now Stands At 115

The death toll from U.S. attacks against alleged drug vessels in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific now stands at 115 after five strikes over the past days.

The U.S. Southern Command disclosed the first series of attacks in a social media publication, saying "three narco-terrorists aboard the first vessel were killed in the first engagement."

The remaining people aboard, the force said, "abandoned the other two vessels, jumping overboard and distancing themselves before follow-on engagements sank their respective vessels."

The U.S. Coast Guard was notified to begin searching for the survivors, but two days after it's unclear if any were found. "The U.S. Coast Guard is coordinating search and rescue operations with vessels in the area, and a Coast Guard C-130 aircraft is en route to provide further search coverage," the force said.

Hours later the Southern Command announced it had conducted two more vessels, killing five people. There have now been at least 34 strikes against alleged drug boats since the campaign began in September.

The Trump administration has told Congress it considers itself to be in an "armed conflict" with drug cartels and has labeled those killed as "unlawful combatants," citing a classified Justice Department finding that it says permits lethal action without judicial review, as CNN explains.

The Trump administration is also escalating pressure against the Nicolas Maduro regime on two other fronts. One is the blockade of sanctioned tankers, which has led the regime to shut oil wells as it runs out of storage facility.

The other is an attack on what has been described as a remote dock in the Venezuelan coast used to load drugs onto vessels that would then journey through the Caribbean.