Death Toll in US Boat Strikes Blows Past 100

The US military on Thursday said it had conducted two more strikes against boats it claimed were smuggling drugs in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing five people. US Southern Command posted on social media that "intelligence confirmed that the vessels were transiting along known narco-trafficking routes in the Eastern Pacific and were engaged in narco-trafficking operations," though it didn't provide evidence. It posted videos of each boat speeding through the sea before being struck by an explosion. The military said three people in one vessel and two in the other were killed, per the AP.

The attacks brought the total number of known boat strikes to 28, with at least 104 people killed, according to numbers announced by the Trump administration. President Trump has justified the attacks as a necessary escalation to stem the flow of drugs into the United States and asserted the US is engaged in an "armed conflict" with drug cartels. However, the administration is facing increasing scrutiny from lawmakers over the boat strike campaign. CBS News notes that Democrats in Congress have put forth resolutions to push back on the strikes, but their GOP colleagues have repeatedly voted those resolutions down.