A double-tap strike essentially means delivering two attacks on the same target – often injuring or killing doctors and civilians who are coming to aid those damaged in the first attack. Here’s more about how the United States has used such attacks throughout history.
Did America carry out a double-tap attack?
As part of an ongoing military operation against drug trafficking networks, US forces attacked a boat in the Caribbean on September 2.
Its operation in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific has so far killed more than 80 people, while targeting at least 21 boats it claims were smuggling drugs. It has not provided any evidence to support this.
The first attack on 2 September destroyed one ship and killed nine people. Two survivors remained trapped under debris in the water.
But the Washington Post reports that mission commander Admiral Frank Bradley then authorized a second attack, which killed the two survivors.
The Post reported that Bradley had taken the action after receiving verbal instructions from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. One source described that instruction thus: “The order was to kill everyone.” Hegseth has denied issuing any such order.
On Monday, White House press secretary Carolyn Leavitt told reporters that Bradley “acted well within his authority and within the law” in ordering the second attack.
Has the US used ‘double-tap’ attacks before?
The US is believed to be one of the leading countries to have used double-tap attacks on a large scale in recent history.
Here is a brief timeline of Washington’s alleged or confirmed use of double-tap attacks on various targets.
2025: Yemen
In April, America carried out air strikes on Yemen’s Ras Isa oil port.
In a social media post, US Central Command (CENTCOM) said the strikes were aimed at “depleting the economic source of power of the Houthis, who continue to exploit and inflict great suffering on their fellow countrymen”.
Centcom, the US military branch that oversees operations in the Middle East, Central Asia and parts of South Asia, said: “Today, the US military took action to eliminate this source of fuel for Iran-backed Houthi terrorists.”
According to the Hodeida health office in Yemen, at least 80 people were killed and another 150 were injured in the attack. The Houthi-led government said the attacks were carried out on a civilian facility.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), an American Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, said the US struck the site a second time – a “double tap” – just as first responders were arriving at the scene. The US never confirmed that the attack was a double attack.
United Kingdom-based watchdog AirWars, which collects open-source information, also recorded the incident as a double-tap attack in its online database.
2017: Yemen
In September 2017, two US drone strikes targeted the Al Sarru area, a rural area in the Sama district of Al Bayda Governorate in central Yemen.
That area is under Houthi control. In 2017, al-Qaeda was also believed to be active in rural parts of the region.
While the number of casualties in those attacks varies, AirWars reported that the second attack affected people who were coming to the aid of those injured in the first attack.
US CENTCOM confirmed that, a total of three strikes took place in al Bayda that day, killing “several” al-Qaeda members.
However, local media reported that two to four civilians were also killed.
In April 2017, the Pentagon confirmed that a US strike had killed eight al-Qaeda members in Shabwa province. However, according to Airwars, other reports suggest that three civilians were also killed.
Sources, including the AFP news agency, suggested that those civilians were killed in the second double-tap attack because they had gone to help those injured in the first attack.
2012: Pakistan
During the administration of US President Barack Obama, in July 2012 US missiles struck a tent in Jowi Sidgi, a remote village in North Waziristan, in what people on the ground described as a double strike. The US claimed it was targeting alleged al-Qaeda targets in the region.
According to Mustafa Kadri of Amnesty International, who was speaking to the BBC at the time, a group of miners and loggers had gathered in a tent for dinner.
Locals said that moments after the first attack, as people rushed to help the injured, a second US missile hit the same spot. In total, eighteen people were killed in both attacks.
The US never publicly confirmed that it was a double-tap attack.
2003 and 2004: Iraq
In 2003, US forces in Baghdad fired on wounded Iraqis during Operation Thunder Run, the invasion of Baghdad. The US military alleged that the Iraqis were pretending to be dead or injured and were, in fact, planning a surprise attack.
American reporter David Zucchino, who was involved in American military operations, reported that Iraqi soldiers who appeared to be dead were getting up as American vehicles passed by and firing at them from behind.
For this reason, U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel Eric Schwartz ordered American troops to “double tap” – or open fire on anyone who showed signs of moving too close to a weapon.
In 2004, US troops attacked the Fallujah Mosque in Iraq’s Al Anbar Governorate, claiming they were being fired upon. Later, they fired on wounded Iraqis inside the mosque.
NBC News correspondent Kevin Sites, who was attached to the US military, reported that an American soldier had shot an unarmed, wounded Iraqi prisoner in the mosque. The next day, sites filmed an American soldier yelling at Iraqis in the mosque, accusing them of pretending to be dead.
Footage of the mosque attack sparked controversy, leading the US military to investigate whether a US soldier who shot a prisoner had acted in self-defense, legitimately anticipating a surprise attack. Investigators found insufficient evidence to charge the soldier.
Are double-tap attacks war crimes?
While double-tap attacks are not explicitly considered war crimes, international law prohibits their use. The 1949 Geneva Conventions prohibit the targeting of medics, anyone assisting in rescue efforts or those injured in the first attack.
What is the history of double-tap strike?
Double-tap attacks date back to the 19th century, when British soldiers fired at the bodies of French soldiers lying on the ground during fighting at the Battle of Waterloo.
This practice continued during World War I, when soldiers of both the Allied and Central Powers, including Britain, France, and Germany, used bayonets to charge enemy soldiers lying on the ground.
During World War II, German, Soviet, Japanese, British, and American soldiers used tactics to ensure that enemy soldiers who appeared dead were actually dead.
In recent history, several other countries have also been accused of carrying out double-tap attacks.
According to evidence collected by Airwars, Israel carried out double-tap shelling in Gaza’s Khan Yunis in May this year, injuring at least three members of the Palestinian civil defense.
Overall, since Israel’s war on Gaza began in October 2023, AirWars has recorded 28 instances of Israel conducting double-tap strikes in Gaza, killing or injuring medics and civilians. These were mostly air strikes, with a few instances of artillery attacks.
<a href