Venezuela's ambassador to the UN, Samuel Moncada, on Thursday condemned a series of US strikes in the Caribbean as a "set of extrajudicial executions" and urged the UN Security Council to launch a probe. 

What did Venezuela's ambassador say? 

Moncada pointed out that there have been five lethal attacks and 27 reported deaths since the US began striking boats in September.

US officials say the strikes are targeting suspected drug traffickers. Moncada wrote in a letter to the UN Security Council that the strikes target "civilian vessels transiting international waters."

"There is a killer prowling the Caribbean," Moncada said. "People from different countries are suffering the effects of these massacres," Moncada said while holding up a newspaper reporting on two fishermen from Trinidad and Tobago who are believed to be among six people killed in a recent strike. 

Moncada has urged the Security Council to issue a statement "reaffirming the principle of unrestricted respect for the sovereignty, political independence, and territorial integrity of states," including Venezuela.

However, the Security Council will likely be unable to take any action on the situation beyond holding meetings, as the US holds veto power. 

Meanwhile, the family of a missing man in Trinidad believed to have been killed in the strike has demanded US President Donald Trump provide evidence that those killed in the strikes were trafficking drugs. 

"If you say a boat has narcotics on it, where is the narcotics? We want evidence, we want proof. There is nothing," a family member told the Associated Press. 

Why is US launching strikes in Caribbean?

The Trump administration began building up maritime forces in the Caribbean earlier this year to go after what it has described as illegal drug trafficking that must be combated. 

Democrats have called out the strikes as a violation of US and international law, and some Republicans have also questioned the legality of the strikes.

The strikes also come amid tension between Washington and Venezuela's strongman leader, Nicolas Maduro. On Wednesday, Trump said he had authorized the CIA to conduct operations in Venezuela. 

Maduro has accused Trump of trying to engineer "regime change" in Venezuela. 

"We are looking at land now, because we've got the sea very well under control," Trump said, in reference to the strikes on vessels in Caribbean waters. "I think Venezuela is feeling heat."

Edited by: Wesley Rahn