Cuban forces kill four "infiltrators' on US speedboat in gunfight

Hind Al Soulia - Riyadh - HAVANA — Cuba said its troops fatally shot four heavily armed people attempting to “infiltrate” its territory on a Florida-registered speedboat on Wednesday.

The victims were Cuban nationals living in the United States, according to the Cuban government.

Cuban border guard troops approached the boat for identification after it entered their territorial waters in Falcones Cay, Villa Clara province, just over 100 miles from Florida, the country’s interior ministry said in a statement.

But a passenger on the speedboat shot at the Cuban vessel, wounding its commander, and prompting Cuban forces to return fire, according to the statement. Six other people aboard the speedboat were wounded and are in custody and receiving medical attention.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the US was also investigating the "highly unusual" incident.

Cuba's interior ministry identified the six surviving passengers, who have since been detained, and one passenger who was killed.

They added that most of them "have prior records involving criminal and violent activity".

Handguns, assault rifles and improvised explosive devices were recovered on the speedboat, according to the statement, along with other tactical gear.

The interior ministry also identified an eleventh person they said had been arrested and had confessed to being part of the alleged plot.

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Before the Cuban government released some of the passengers' identities, Rubio confirmed the boat was not carrying US government personnel and that an investigation was ongoing to "clarify" the event and what the passengers were doing in the area.

Rubio, spoke from Saint Kitts and Nevis, where he had traveled to meet with Caribbean leaders amid the Trump administration's push to ramp up pressure on Cuba's government, as well as other regional issues.

"We're going to find out exactly what happened, who was involved, and we'll make a determination on the basis of what we find out," he told reporters.

He vowed that US investigators would move "quickly" to gather the key facts, and that the US Coast Guard has traveled to the "vicinity" of the attack.

But he added that the US would not rely on information provided by the Cuban government, and that Washington would independently verify the facts of the case.

"It is highly unusual to see shootouts on the open sea like that. It's not something that happens everyday," Rubio said.

The incident comes amid increased tensions between the US and Cuba, which is facing a deepening fuel crisis that has been worsened by the US blocking oil shipments from Venezuela, a long-standing ally in the region, to the island. — Agencies