Trump’s boat bombings: How the US has long used ‘double-tap’ strikes

EXPLAINER‘Double strikes’ allegedly used on Venezuelan boats accused of trafficking drugs were also used extensively under the US’s Obama administration.US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has denied issuing the directive to kill everyone on the Venezuelan boat the US alleged was trafficking drugs [File: AFP]Published On 2 Dec 2025The White House has confirmed that a top US Navy commander ordered a second round of strikes on an alleged Venezuelan drug boat in September despite almost completely destroying it in the first attack.A double-tap strike essentially means carrying out two strikes on the same target – often wounding or killing medics and civilians who are coming to the aid of people harmed in the first attack. Here is more about how the United States has used such strikes throughout history.Did the US carry out a double-tap strike?The US military struck a boat in the Caribbean on September 2, as part of its ongoing military campaign against drug-trafficking networks.Its campaign in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific has, so far, killed more than 80 people while targeting at least 21 boats it claims were trafficking drugs. It has not provided any evidence to support this.The first strike on September 2 destroyed one vessel and killed nine people. Two survivors were left clinging to debris in the water.But the Washington Post has reported that mission commander Admiral Frank Bradley then authorised a second strike, killing the two survivors.The Post reported that Bradley had acted after receiving a verbal directive from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. One source characterised that directive as: “The order was to kill everybody.” Hegseth has denied issuing such an order.On Monday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that Bradley “worked well within his authority and the law” in ordering the second strike.Has the US used ‘double-tap’ strikes before?The US is believed to be one of the main countries to have used double-tap strikes extensively in recent history.Here is a brief timeline of Washington’s alleged or confirmed use of double-tap strikes on various targets.2025: YemenIn April, the US conducted air strikes on the Ras Isa oil port in Yemen.In a social media post, the US Central Command (CENTCOM) said the objective of these strikes was “to degrade the economic source of power of the Houthis, who continue to exploit and bring great pain upon their fellow countrymen”.CENTCOM, the US military arm overseeing operations in the Middle East, Central Asia and parts of South Asia, added: “Today, US forces took action to eliminate this source of fuel for the Iran-backed Houthi terrorists.”The strike killed at least 80 people and wounded another 150, according to the Hodeidah Health Office in Yemen. The Houthi-led government said that the strikes had been made on a civilian facility.The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), an American Muslim civil rights and advocacy organisation, said the US struck the site a second time – a “double tap” – just as first responders were arriving at the scene. The US has never confirmed this attack was a double tap.United Kingdom-based watchdog Airwars, which gathers open-source information, also recorded this incident as a double-tap attack in its online database.2017: YemenIn September 2017, two US drone strikes targeted the Al Saru area, a rural locality in the Sama’a district of Al Bayda governorate in central Yemen.That area is under Houthi control. In 2017, al-Qaeda was believed to also be operating in rural parts of the area.While casualty reports from those strikes vary, Airwars reported that the second strike hit people coming to the aid of those wounded in the first attack.US CENTCOM confirmed that, in total, three strikes occurred in Al Bayda that day, killing “several” al-Qaeda members.However, local media reported that between two and four civilians had also been killed.In April 2017, the Pentagon confirmed that a US strike had killed eight al-Qaeda members in the Shabwa governorate. However, other reports suggested three civilians had also been killed, according to Airwars.Sources, including the AFP news agency, suggested that those civilians were killed in the second of a double-tap attack after they had gone to help those hurt in the first strike.2012: PakistanDuring the administration of US President Barack Obama, US missiles hit a tent in Zowi Sidgi, a remote village in North Waziristan, in July 2012, in what was described by people on the ground as a double strike. The US claimed it was targeting alleged al-Qaeda sanctuaries in the region.According to Amnesty International’s Mustafa Qadri, who was speaking to the BBC at the time, a group of miners and woodcutters had gathered in the tent for dinner.Moments after the first strike, when people had arrived to assist those who were hurt, a second US missile hit the same location, local people said. Eighteen people died in total in the two strikes.The US has never publicly confirmed that this was a double-tap attack.2003 and 2004: IraqIn 2003, US forces in Baghdad fired at wounded Iraqis during the invasion of Baghdad, during Operation Thunder Run. The US military alleged that the Iraqis were pretending to be dead or injured and were, in fact, planning a surprise attack.US reporter David Zucchino, who was embedded with the US military, reported that Iraqi soldiers who had appeared to be dead were getting up and firing at US vehicles from behind, after they passed by.For this reason, US Army Lieutenant Colonel Eric Schwartz ordered US soldiers to “double tap” – or shoot at anyone who showed any signs of moving close to a weapon.In 2004, US soldiers attacked the Fallujah mosque in the Al Anbar governorate of Iraq, claiming they were being fired upon. Afterwards, they shot at injured Iraqis inside the mosque.NBC News correspondent Kevin Sites, who was embedded with the US military, reported that a US soldier had shot an unarmed, wounded Iraqi prisoner at the mosque. The next day, Sites filmed an American soldier shouting at Iraqis in the mosque, accusing them of pretending to be dead.Footage from the mosque attack sparked controversy, prompting an investigation by the US military into whether a US soldier who shot a prisoner had acted in self-defence, legitimately fearing a surprise attack. Investigators found insufficient evidence to charge the soldier.US soldiers arrive at the site of morning attacks in central Baghdad on November 21, 2003 [File: Reuters]Are double-tap strikes a war crime?While double-tap strikes are not explicitly deemed a war crime, international law restricts their use. The 1949 Geneva Conventions prohibit the targeting of medics, anyone assisting in rescue efforts, or those wounded in a first strike.What is the history of double-tap strikes?Double-tap strikes date back to the 19th century, when British soldiers fired at bodies of French soldiers who had fallen to the ground during fighting at the Battle of Waterloo.This practice continued through World War I, when soldiers from both the Allied and Central Powers – including Britain, France and Germany – used bayonets to stab enemy soldiers lying on the ground.During World War II, German, Soviet, Japanese, British and US troops used the tactic to ensure that the enemy soldiers who appeared dead were actually dead.In more recent history, several other countries have also been accused of carrying out double-tap attacks.According to evidence collected by Airwars, Israel conducted a double-tap shelling in Gaza’s Khan Younis in May this year, injuring at least three members of the Palestinian Civil Defence.Overall, since Israel’s war on Gaza began in October 2023, Airwars has recorded 28 instances of Israel carrying out double-tap strikes in Gaza, which have killed or injured medics and civilians. These were mostly air strikes, with a few instances of artillery strikes.