The US military has sank eighth alleged drug-trafficking vessel in international waters, the first such strike in the Pacific, killing two people aboard.
US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth wrote on X that at the direction of President Donald Trump, the Department of War conducted a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel being operated by a Designated Terrorist Organisation and conducting narco-trafficking in the Eastern Pacific.
Hegseth accused the vessel of carrying narcotics and transiting along a known drug-trafficking transit route. Hegseth said the strike was conducted in international waters near Colombia’s Pacific coast.
The Pentagon launched seven previous operations in the southern Caribbean international waters from September, mainly against boats accused of trafficking drugs from Venezuela to the US.
The total death toll from recent US attacks on alleged drug-trafficking vessels has risen to at least 34 as of yesterday.
On Wednesday afternoon, Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said the military attacked a vessel in the eastern Pacific Ocean and killed two men on Tuesday.
“Yesterday, at the direction of President Trump, the Department of War conducted a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel being operated by a Designated Terrorist Organization and conducting narco-trafficking in the Eastern Pacific,” Hegseth wrote on social media.
“There were two narco-terrorists aboard the vessel during the strike, which was conducted in international waters. Both terrorists were killed.”
A video accompanying Hegseth’s post shows a missile striking a small blue boat clipping across the water, which subsequently erupts in flames.
Hours later, Hegseth said the military had struck another vessel in the eastern Pacific on Wednesday, killing three men.
“The vessel was known by our intelligence to be involved in illicit narcotics smuggling, was transiting along a known narco-trafficking route and was carrying narcotics,” Hegseth said, without providing evidence.
The strikes came on top of at least seven others in the Caribbean in a campaign that killed at least 32 people and raised US tensions with Venezuela and Colombia.
The latest strikes in the Pacific Ocean open a new front in President Donald Trump’s growing military campaign against Latin American cartels, fuelling questions about the limits and legality of his actions.