The US has announced it is sending an aircraft carrier to the waters off South America as it ramps up an operation to target alleged drug smuggling boats.

The Pentagon said in a statement that the USS Gerald R Ford would be deployed to the region, including the Caribbean Sea, to “bolster US capacity to detect, monitor, and disrupt illicit actors and activities that compromise the safety and prosperity of the United States homeland and our security in the Western Hemisphere”.

Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro told state media that the US was “inventing a new eternal war”.

The vessel is the US Navy’s largest aircraft carrier. It is currently deployed in the Mediterranean alongside three destroyers, and the group are expected to take around one week to make the journey.

There are already eight US Navy ships in the central and South American region, along with a nuclear-powered submarine, adding up to about 6,000 sailors and marines, according to officials.

It came as the US secretary of war claimed that six “narco-terrorists” had been killed in a strike on an alleged drug smuggling boat in the Caribbean Sea overnight.

Pete Hegseth said his military had bombed a vessel which he claimed was operated by Tren de Aragua – a Venezuelan gang that was designated a terror group by Washington in February.

Writing on X, he claimed that the boat was involved in “illicit narcotics smuggling” and was transiting along a “known narco-trafficking route” when it was struck during the night.

All six men on board the boat, which was in international waters, were killed and no US forces were harmed, he said.

Ten vessels have now been bombed in recent weeks, killing more than 40 people.

Mr Hegseth added: “If you are a narco-terrorist smuggling drugs in our hemisphere, we will treat you like we treat al Qaeda. Day or NIGHT, we will map your networks, track your people, hunt you down, and kill you.”

While he did not provide any evidence that the vessel was carrying drugs, he did share a 20-second video that appeared to show a boat being hit by a projectile before exploding.

Speaking during a White House news conference last week, Donald Trump argued that the campaign would help tackle the US’s opioid crisis.

“Every boat that we knock out, we save 25,000 American lives. So every time you see a boat, and you feel badly you say, ‘Wow, that’s rough’. It is rough, but if you lose three people and save 25,000 people,” he said.

Read more:
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On Thursday, appearing at a press conference with Mr Hegseth, Mr Trump said that it was necessary to kill the alleged smugglers, because if they were arrested they would only return to transport drugs “again and again and again”.

“They don’t fear that, they have no fear,” he told reporters.

The attacks at sea would soon be followed by operations on land against drug smuggling cartels, Mr Trump claimed.

“We’re going to kill them,” he added. “They’re going to be, like, dead.”

Some Democratic politicians have expressed concerns that the strikes risk dragging the US into a war with Venezuela because of their proximity to the South American country’s coast.

Others have condemned the attacks as extrajudicial killings that would not stand up in a court of law.

Jim Himes, a member of the House of Representatives, told CBS News earlier this month: “They are illegal killings because the notion that the United States – and this is what the administration says is their justification – is involved in an armed conflict with any drug dealers, any Venezuelan drug dealers, is ludicrous.”

He claimed that Congress had been told “nothing” about who was on the boats and how they were identified as a threat.

A convicted child killer executed in Tennessee showed signs of “sustained cardiac activity” two minutes after he was pronounced dead, his lawyer has claimed.

Byron Black, who shot dead his girlfriend Angela Clay and her two daughters, aged six and nine, in a jealous rage in 1988, was executed in August by a lethal injection.

Alleged issues about his case were raised on Friday as part of a lawsuit challenging the US state‘s lethal injection policies, amid claims they violate both federal and state constitutional bans on cruel and unusual punishment.

The latest proceedings in Nashville were held to consider whether attorneys representing death row inmates in the lawsuit will be allowed to depose key people involved in carrying out executions in Tennessee.

The court heard that concerns had been raised before the execution that Black was being put to death with a working defibrillator implanted in his chest.

There were fears that the device would shock his heart when the lethal chemicals took effect.

The Death Penalty Information Center, which provides data on such matters, said it was unaware of any similar cases.

Seven media witnesses said Black appeared to be in discomfort during the execution. He looked around the room as the execution began, and could be heard sighing and breathing heavily, the AP news agency reported at the time.

An electrocardiogram monitoring his heart recorded cardiac activity after he was pronounced dead, his lawyer Kelley Henry told a judge on Friday.

Read more from Sky News:
Executed man took at least 15 minutes to die
US ramps up ‘drug boats’ operation

Ms Henry, who is leading a group of federal public defenders representing death row inmates in the US state, said only the people who were there would be able to answer the question of what went wrong during Black’s execution.

“At one point, the blanket was pulled down to expose the IV,” she told the court.

“Why? Did the IV come out? Is that the reason that Mr Black exclaimed ‘it’s hurting so bad’? Is the EKG (electrocardiogram) correct?”

A full trial in the case is scheduled to be heard in April.

The mistaken release of an asylum seeker who was jailed for sexual offences has prompted widespread condemnation – and an extensive police operation.

Hadush Gerberslasie Kebatu, 38, had assaulted a 14-year-old girl and a woman in Epping, about a week after he had crossed the Channel and arrived in the UK by boat.

Last night, the teenager’s father was visibly upset as he turned up at HMP Chelmsford – asking for answers on how Kebatu was freed just one month into a 12-month sentence.

He did not want to speak on camera – but told Sky correspondent Mollie Malone that he was “frustrated” at the thought of the Ethiopian national being back on the streets.

“The justice system has let us down,” he said.

Footage has emerged that appears to show Kebatu in Chelmsford town centre following his release – dressed in prison clothes and clutching his belongings in a see-through bag.

He then headed to the railway station and boarded a train bound for London’s Liverpool Street, which departed at 12.41pm yesterday.

Follow latest developments on manhunt

‘You couldn’t make it up’

Kebatu’s case had a high profile and led to weeks of protests outside the Bell Hotel in Epping, where he was staying alongside other asylum seekers.

When he was sentenced last month, Judge Christopher Williams warned he posed a “significant risk of reoffending”.

The Liberal Democrat MP for Chelmsford, Marie Goldman, told Sky presenter Barbara Serra she was “appalled, frustrated and angry about how this could possibly happen in the first place”.

She said it is clear something went “fundamentally wrong” at HMP Chelmsford – and her constituents are “fed up” with systems not working and underinvestment.

“It just destroys trust at a time when emotions are riding high. We’ve seen protests over the past few weeks and months, and there’s a lot of fear out there,” Ms Goldman added.

“It is so easy to lose trust and really hard to gain it – we need the government to get a grip on this.”

Shadow home secretary Chris Philp described Kebatu as a “dangerous illegal immigrant” – and said his premature release shows “staggering incompetence”.

He told Sky News: “We also need an urgent apology from Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood and Justice Secretary David Lammy who have presided over this fiasco.”

Mr Lammy, who also serves as deputy prime minister, has said he is “appalled” and “livid on behalf of the public that Kebatu is at large”.

He confirmed a full investigation is being launched, adding: “He should be deported back to Ethiopia after the sexual assaults that he’s committed.”

Extensive policing operation under way

Multiple forces are now involved in the manhunt for Kebatu – including Essex Police, the British Transport Police and the Metropolitan Police in London.

Policing commentator Graham Wettone told Sky presenter Gillian Joseph that detectives will be carefully piecing together his movements after walking free from HMP Chelmsford.

“All these forces will now be looking at the CCTV from the train itself – trying to locate him on the train and trying to identify at which stop he went off at, and where he went from that station,” he explained.

Mr Wettone said information from Essex Police’s initial investigation – including the contacts, friends and associates he had at the Bell Hotel – will also be a factor.

Questions will also be asked of the prison authorities: “Has he had any visits or phone calls? Has he got any friends or family in the country?”

He added that additional officers will have been allocated to the manhunt: “The Met will have some significant resources looking for him – maybe the Territorial Support Group or additional borough-based officers in and around Liverpool Street first of all.”

The British Transport Police could also be involved in further inquiries if Kebatu ended up travelling on the Underground.

“It really depends on where that thread goes – if they can locate where he got off, and then where he went to,” Mr Wettone said.

“This work is very, very fast-paced – there are detectives and intelligence officers working in the background, chasing up on leads and updating the teams on the ground.”