The US Southern Command posted footage of the strikes on social media and said the vessels were "transiting along known narco-trafficking routes... and were engaged in narco-trafficking".  More than 20 vessels in the Pacific and the Caribbean have been targeted in recent months, killing at least 90 people, as part of President Donald Trump's escalating campaign against gangs he accuses of transporting drugs in the region. Some experts say the strikes could violate laws governing armed conflict. The first attack by the US - on 2 September - has drawn particular scrutiny as there was not one but two strikes, with survivors of the first killed in the second. Several legal experts have told BBC Verify that the second strike on the alleged Venezuelan drug boat by the US military was probably illegal, and would likely be considered an extrajudicial killing under international law. Previously, a former chief prosecutor at the International Criminal Court told the BBC that the US military campaign more broadly had fallen into the category of a planned, systematic attack against civilians during peacetime. In response, the White House said it had acted in line with the laws of armed conflict to protect the US from cartels "trying to bring poison to our shores... destroying American lives". (BBC)