Washington DC [US], September 17: The United States has taken a total of three ships out of service in the conflict with Venezuela, President Donald Trump said on Tuesday.
A day after the US killed three people from Venezuela in an attack on a ship which Trump said had been carrying drugs, the US president told reporters that three vessels had been destroyed, but pictures had only been released of two of the incidents.
Trump did not provide any further details about the action taken against a third vessel.
Trump was then asked what his message to Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro was and replied that his Venezuelan counterpart should stop sending the Tren de Aragua drug gang to the US.
The US government classifies the group as a foreign terrorist organization.
In early September, the US military killed 11 people in a strike against a ship allegedly carrying drugs in the Caribbean, according to US officials.
On Monday, Trump announced another deadly attack. In both cases, Trump argued that the ships were supposed to bring drugs from Venezuela to the US. The legal basis for the US actions remained unclear.
UN human rights observers have condemned the deadly US operations, saying that international law does not allow governments to simply murder suspected drug traffickers.
The US had also violated international maritime law and may have acted against the UN Charter, which prohibits the use of force against other states, they said. The experts referred to the first two US strikes against suspected drug ships. They demanded that the US hold those responsible for the "murders" accountable.
Source: Qatar Tribune
