US sued over deadly boat attack

TT

Published 2026-01-27 22.24

 

US Defense Headquarters Pentagon. Archive photo. Photo: Alex Brandon/AP/TT

Relatives of two men killed by US forces at sea have filed a lawsuit against the US government.

The case is the first of its kind after Washington's many attacks on what it claims are "drug boats".

According to the lawsuit, the two men were on their way from Venezuela to their homeland of Trinidad and Tobago when their boat was fired on on October 14, NBC News reports.

The Pentagon claims that six people were killed in the attack and that all were "narco-terrorists".

However, in the lawsuit, relatives claim that the two, aged 26 and 41 respectively, were fishermen.

Pentagon figures show that a total of 126 people have been killed since the US began its attacks in September last year. The Trump administration has argued before Congress that the attacks are part of an armed conflict against drug cartels.

This argument is rejected in the lawsuit, which states that there is no armed conflict and that the laws of war therefore do not apply.