Tren de Aragua gang leader killed in US military strike, Trump says

The leader of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua has been killed in a U.S. military strike, President Donald Trump said in a social media post Friday night.

"At my direction, the United States Southern Command delivered a swift and lethal kinetic strike to successfully execute Niño Guerrero, the infamous leader of Tren De Aragua," Trump said in the post.

The president described Friday's action as "retribution" for what he claimed were the deaths of American citizens at the hands of illegal immigrants that he claimed are Tren de Aragua members.

The post included a 10 second video showing a strike on a structure.

The president said the action was coordinated with Venezuelan leaders.

"This action was coordinated closely with our friends in Venezuela, with whom we are working very well. As a result, Tren de Aragua terrorists no longer have safe haven in Venezuela or anywhere else and, under my leadership, we will find these vicious murderers and drugs lords anytime, anyplace, and send them to the depths of hell where they belong," Trump added in the post.

In December, Guerrero -- whose full name was Hector Rusthenford Guerrero and who also went by the name "El Innombrable" -- was indicted by a grand jury in New York on charges of ordering, directing and facilitating acts of terrorism and violence in the U.S.

The State Department had offered a reward of $5 million for information leading to his arrest or conviction.

In a statement at the time Guerrero was indicted, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Jay Clayton called him "the mastermind of Tren de Aragua’s evolution from a Venezuelan prison gang into a transnational terrorist organization that committed countless acts of violence, extortion, and drug trafficking all over North America, South America, and Europe."

The Trump administration has increasingly deployed military force to target drug cartels including a monthslong campaign of strikes on boats and other vessels accused of smuggling drugs in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean, killing more than 200 people the administration said were "engaged in narco-trafficking operations."

The military campaign has drawn criticism from some lawmakers, legal experts and human rights groups, who have questioned the legality of using military force against suspected traffickers and argued the strikes amount to extrajudicial killings.