Four killed in US boat strike hours after lawmakers viewed 'disturbing' footage of survivors getting blown up

A US strike on a suspected drug trafficking boat in the eastern Pacific on Thursday (Dec 4) left four people dead, adding more heat to an already explosive debate over a campaign that has now claimed more than 87 lives. The Pentagon and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth are facing growing criticism over an earlier incident in September, when US forces fired on the wreckage of a boat that had already been hit, killing two survivors. That episode has drawn accusations of misconduct, with some lawmakers calling it a potential war crime.

US' latest strikes in international waters

The newest strike, according to US Southern Command, hit a "vessel in international waters operated by a Designated Terrorist Organization. Intelligence confirmed that the vessel was carrying illicit narcotics and transiting along a known narco-trafficking route in the Eastern Pacific."

A video released with the announcement showed a multi-engine boat racing across the water before a blast ripped through it, leaving the vessel in flames. "Four male narco-terrorists aboard the vessel were killed," reads the post.

Watch video here:

Classified briefing on US strikes

Hours before the latest strike was made public, lawmakers on Capitol Hill viewed an extended version of the September incident during a classified briefing. Representative Jim Himes, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said the footage showed US forces firing on "shipwrecked sailors -- bad guys, bad guys -- but attacking shipwrecked sailors." He called the scene "one of the most troubling things I've seen in my time in public service."

Republican Don Bacon, a retired brigadier general, backed that assessment during an interview on CNN. He said the two survivors shown in the earlier footage did not meet the threshold of an "imminent threat," which he said is required under the laws of war. "These two people were trying to survive, and our...rules of war would not allow us to kill survivors," Bacon said.

But Senator Tom Cotton defended the actions, saying the strikes were lawful and that "saw two survivors trying to flip a boat loaded with drugs bound for the United States back over so they could stay in the fight".