MIAMI, United States (CMC) — The Miami-based United States Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) said that two alleged male “narco-terrorists” were killed in a “lethal kinetic strike” on a vessel operated by “designated terrorist organisations” in the Caribbean Sea.

SOUTHCOM did not identify the “designated terrorist organisations” but said the strike was given at the direction of its Commander General Francis L Donovan.

SOUTHCOM said Joint Task Force Southern Spear’s intelligence “confirmed the vessel was transiting along known narco-trafficking routes in the Caribbean and was engaged in narco-trafficking operations”.

The United States (US) military said there were six male survivors from the “lethal kinetic strike” and that “following the engagement, US SOUTHCOM immediately notified US Coast Guard to activate the search and rescue system for the survivors”.

“No US military forces were harmed,” it added.

The Trump administration has been criticised by Congressional Democrats and even some Republicans over what they characterised as illegal killings of alleged drug traffickers in the Caribbean Sea.

The legislators have raised serious due process issues. Human rights groups have also described the attacks as “extrajudicial killings”.

In late March, SOUTHCOM said the US military killed four alleged “narco-terrorists” in the Caribbean Sea during a “lethal kinetic strike”.

That strike brought to over 163 the number of so-called “narco-terrorists” killed in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean since the Trump administration began attacking suspected drug vessels in the Caribbean Sea last September.

In April, the United States human rights group, Human Rights Watch, condemned the US military strike on a vessel in the Caribbean Sea that killed four people.

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”.

“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.

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. 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,” the group added.

In late January, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) said that family members of two Trinidadian men killed in a US missile strike in October were suing the Trump administration for wrongful death and extrajudicial killing.

The ACLU said Chad Joseph, 26, and Rishi Samaroo, 41, were killed in one of the 36 strikes the Trump administration had launched against civilian boats in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean.

The ACLU said that, on October 14, Joseph and Samaroo were returning from Venezuela to their homes in Las Cuevas, Trinidad and Tobago when a missile struck their boat.

Four other people also died in the strike, the ACLU said.

The legal director of the Center for Constitutional Rights, Baher Azmy, said it is absurd and dangerous for any state to just unilaterally proclaim that a “war” exists to deploy lethal military force.

“These are lawless killings in cold blood; killings for sport and killings for theatre, which is why we need a court of law to proclaim what is true and constrain what is lawless. This is a critical step in ensuring accountability, while the individuals responsible may ultimately be answerable criminally for murder and war crimes.”