US military says three killed in its strike on vessel in Eastern Pacific

Human Rights Watch has described such attacks as “unlawful extrajudicial killings”

The US military said on Thursday its strike on a vessel in the Eastern Pacific killed three males, marking ‌the latest such attack that human rights groups call extrajudicial killings and Washington casts as targeting of "narco-terrorists."

Here are some details:

• "Three male narco-terrorists were killed during this action. No US military forces were harmed," the US Southern Command said late on Thursday.
• President Donald Trump's administration has been striking vessels that it accuses of transporting narcotics.
• Experts and human rights advocates, both in the US and globally, have questioned the legality of the strikes.
• The US military's strikes on such vessels have killed more than 200 people since September.
• The Southern Command said the vessel targeted on Thursday was operated by "Designated Terrorist Organizations" and was "transiting along known narco-trafficking routes."
• It did not identify the organizations or the individuals and did not provide details on its claims.
• The US military has issued near-identical statements after such strikes.
• Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International consider such strikes unlawful extrajudicial killings.
• The American Civil ⁠Liberties Union casts the assertions by the Trump administration against those it targets as "unsubstantiated, fear-mongering claims."