WASHINGTON, United CMC – The United States human rights group, Human Rights Watch, has condemned the latest US military strike on a vessel in the Caribbean Sea that killed four people.

On Friday, Human Rights Watch said the strike “highlights a sustained pattern of unlawful use of lethal force outside any context of armed conflict, amounting to extrajudicial executions.”

The Miami-based US Southern Command (Southcom) said on March 25 that the US military had killed four alleged “narco-terrorists” in the Caribbean Sea during a “lethal Kinetic Strike.”

“At the direction of the Commander of US Southern Command, Marine General Francis L Donovan, Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel operated by designated terrorist organisations,” said Southcom in a statement.

“Intelligence confirmed the vessel was transiting along known narco-trafficking routes in the Caribbean and was engaged in narco-trafficking operations,” it added. “Four male narco-terrorists were killed during this action. No US military forces were harmed.”

Human Rights Watch said that the strike was the 47th in a series of lethal strikes by the US military in the Caribbean and Pacific oceans, resulting in a total of 163 people killed.

“These strikes aren’t one-off incidents, they’re part of a pattern of using military force where the law does not permit it, over and over again,” said Sarah Yager, Washington director at Human Rights Watch. “The fact that these strikes have faded from public attention does not make these violations any less grave or unlawful.”

Human Rights Watch said, “international law draws a clear line between armed conflict and law enforcement.

“There is no armed conflict in the Caribbean or Pacific between the US and any drug-trafficking organisation,” it said. “And so, there is no group of people who are a legitimate military target.

“Outside of armed conflict, the deliberate, lethal use of force is only lawful when strictly necessary to protect life,” Human Rights added. “Suspected criminals are not otherwise lawful targets for these deliberately lethal US strikes, and no information has been released to the public showing that any of the people targeted and killed posed an imminent threat to the life of any person.”

Human Rights Watch urged the Trump administration to “immediately end this campaign of lethal strikes.”

It also said that the administration “should also ensure accountability for these unlawful killings, properly assess the harm caused to victims and their families, and provide redress for that harm”.