US destroys another alleged drug boat in Pacific, killing 2
Latest strike brings the death toll from the Trump administration’s maritime campaign to at least 128 since September
The US military said on Thursday that it carried out another deadly strike on a vessel accused of trafficking drugs in the eastern Pacific Ocean.
US Southern Command said on social media that the boat “was transiting along known narco-trafficking routes in the Eastern Pacific and was engaged in narco-trafficking operations”. It said the strike killed two people.
A video linked to the post showed a boat moving through the water before exploding in flames.
The strike was announced just hours after US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth declared that “some top cartel drug-traffickers” in the region “have decided to cease all narcotics operations INDEFINITELY due to recent (highly effective) kinetic strikes in the Caribbean.” However, Hegseth did not provide any details or information to back up this claim, made in a post on his personal account on social media.
Neither US Southern Command nor the Pentagon would answer follow-up questions about Hegseth’s claim.