killing survivors of an initial missile attack, US media reported Friday. Prior to the operation, the troops had been given a directive from US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to kill everyone on board, the Washington Post and CNN both reported, citing unnamed sources familiar with the operation. "The order was to kill everybody," one of the sources told the Post. The alleged incident occurred on September 2 during the first publicized strike in a series of attacks against boats in both the Caribbean and eastern Pacific that Washington claims were trafficking drugs in international waters. President Donald Trump's administration has not offered evidence to back up the allegations behind its campaign, which has killed at least 83 people, according to an AFP tally of publicly released figures.

On September 2, the US military saw two survivors of an initial strike clinging to the burning vessel, then proceeded to strike them again, the Washington Post reported. After the September 2 strike, protocols were changed to rescue any survivors, the Post added. According to CNN, it was not clear whether Hegseth knew there were survivors before the second strike was carried out. The Intercept initially reported on the follow-up attack on September 10. (Bssnews)