![\"'Deliberate':](\"https:\/\/static.toiimg.com\/thumb\/msid-124593469,imgsize-860858,width-400,resizemode-4\/us-strikes-drug-smuggling-boat-off-venezuela-coast.jpg\" "\\"US")
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nAt least one of the recent US military strikes on suspected drug-smuggling boats targeted Colombian nationals aboard a vessel that had departed from Colombia, according to two individuals briefed by the Pentagon.Since September, the US has carried out at least five strikes on suspected drug-smuggling boats in the Caribbean, including the most recent on October 14. The third strike, on September 19, targeted the Colombians, as per the sources.\u201cIt was deliberate. Though the boat was suspected of carrying people affiliated with Colombian terrorist organisations, the Pentagon was unable to determine the identities of each individual before the strike,\u201d they told CNN<\/a>.The disclosure comes even as US President Donald Trump publicly confirmed that he authorised the CIA to operate in Venezuela to curb illegal flows of migrants and drugs from Colombia’s fellow South American nation. Of the targeted vessels, four had departed from Venezuela.\u201cWe have a lot of drugs coming in from Venezuela, and a lot of the Venezuelan drugs come in through the sea, so you get to see that, but we\u2019re going to stop them by land also,\u201d Trump said during an Oval Office event on Wednesday.Colombian President Gustavo Petro, whose US visa was recently revoked, had previously suggested that those aboard the September 19 vessel were Colombians.\u201cIf the boat was sunk in the Dominican Republic, then it is possible that they were Colombians. This means that officials from the US and the Dominican Republic would be guilty of the murder of Colombian citizens,\u201d Petro posted on X.After the fourth strike, on October 2, he again hinted, citing \u201cindications,\u201d that those victims were also Colombians. \u201cThe aggression is against all of Latin America and the Caribbean,\u201d he added.White House spokesperson Anna Kelly told CNN that every strike targeted \u201cdesignated narco-terrorists bringing deadly poison to our shores.\u201d\u201cOn the campaign trail, President Trump promised to take on the cartels \u2013 and he has taken unprecedented action to stop the scourge of narcoterrorism that has resulted in the needless deaths of innocent Americans,\u201d Kelly noted, adding that the president \u201cwill continue to use every element of American power to stop drugs from flooding into our country and to bring those responsible to justice.\u201d<\/div>\n