WASHINGTON >> The U.S. military killed four men aboard a boat in international waters near Venezuela today, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced in a social media post. He accused the dead people of having been smuggling narcotics, without offering evidence.

The strike was the fourth known attack by the U.S. military since Sept. 2 on boats in the Caribbean Sea that the Trump administration has claimed were smuggling drugs for gangs or cartels it has deemed to be terrorist groups. In all, the military has killed 21 people.

“Our intelligence, without a doubt, confirmed that this vessel was trafficking narcotics, the people onboard were narco-terrorists, and they were operating on a known narco-trafficking transit route,” Hegseth wrote. “These strikes will continue until the attacks on

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