U.S. Military Strikes on Drug Boats Leave at Least 199 Dead

The death toll from the Trump administration's months-long campaign of strikes on suspected drug trafficking boats in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean has risen to at least 199, according to the U.S. military.

The total includes at least 22 people who survived an initial strike only to be hit again or die at sea during the operation that began last September. Among them are three people who survived two separate strikes this month.

U.S. Southern Command says it notifies the Coast Guard of any survivors, but those reports are largely passed on to countries closer to the strike location.

Mexico's navy said it received an alert from the U.S. Coast Guard about strikes this month but did not mention survivors.

The U.S. Coast Guard referred further inquiries to Mexican authorities.

The strikes have been controversial, with the administration declaring a war on Latin American drug cartels. Backlash intensified late last year after revelations that two people survived the first boat attack in September only to be targeted again in a follow-up strike and killed.

Legal experts say that would violate laws governing armed conflict. The Pentagon's watchdog announced this month it will investigate whether the military followed the six-phase Joint Targeting Cycle, though not the legality of the strikes.

To date, only three people are known to have survived strikes and been rescued. Two were rescued from a semi-submersible vessel in October and returned to Ecuador and Colombia.

In March, the Coast Guard recovered a survivor of a strike that killed two others and transferred him to Costa Rican authorities.