A timeline of US strikes on boats that have killed 64

WASHINGTON —

The U.S. military has killed 64 people in 15 strikes that have destroyed 16 boats as part of a campaign that Washington says is aimed at curtailing the flow of drugs into the United States. There have been three survivors of those strikes, two of whom were briefly detained by the U.S. Navy before being returned to their home countries.

The Trump administration has told Congress that the U.S. is now in an “armed conflict” against drug cartels beginning with its first strike on Sept. 2, labeling those killed “unlawful combatants” and claiming the ability to engage in lethal strikes without judicial review due to a classified Justice Department finding.

Some members of Congress as well as human rights groups have questioned that finding and argued that potential drug trafficke