KINGSTOWN, St Vincent (CMC)—Prime Minister of St Vincent and the Grenadines Godwin Friday on Thursday said that the recent United States military action against alleged illegal drug traffickers in the Caribbean Sea that left at least three people dead, presumed to be St Lucians, is of “concern”.

In an interview broadcast on the state-owned Agency for Public Information (API), Friday said that the Minister of National Security, St Clair Leacock, would be addressing the nation on the matter later on Thursday.

“We have no official confirmation of this from any source other than there was a strike, there were casualties,” Friday said, adding “a lot of the information we have received is not official…but you know we can see what has happened and we heard the unofficial report and it is a matter that is very concerning to us.

“It is a very worrying situation for persons to operate in these waters, fishermen they go out and so forth and there is always the risk to them,” Friday said, adding that the police have since issued a notice “essentially cautioning people, but saying you can’t stop doing your business…and we will seek to find more concrete information from the sources who would have those answers”.

Earlier this week, the St Lucia Prime Minister Phillip J Pierre said that his administration is “actively engaging through established diplomatic and security channels” after confirming that “people lost their lives” in the latest United States military strike against what Washington says are illegal drug dealers in the Caribbean Sea.

“I can confirm that people lost their lives and to the circumstances I have got no official notification on the circumstances surrounding their deaths,” Pierre told reporters, repeating that statement when asked by reporters whether those killed were St Lucians.

“The issue is being investigated by the powers responsible for investigations,” he said.

Last Friday, the US Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) said that at the direction of SOUTHCOM Commander General. Francis L Donovan, the Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations.

Last Saturday, the St Vincent Times newspaper published photographs of what it said were the remnants of an alleged drug boat blown up in a lethal strike by the US military last week that surfaced off Canouan, one of the Grenadine islands.

It said that the discovery was made by a group of fishermen from the mainland who had indicated that no bodies were seen floating in the area.