A U.S. military strike killed four people on a suspected drug vessel in international waters in the eastern Pacific, defense officials said Wednesday.
The attack Wednesday was described as “a lethal kinetic strike” on a vessel operated by a “Designated Terrorist Organization,” U.S. Southern Command wrote on social media.
“Intelligence confirmed that the vessel was transiting along a known narco-trafficking route in the Eastern Pacific and was engaged in narco-trafficking operations,” the post said.
Four people were killed, and no U.S. military forces were harmed, military officials said.
Video released by Southern Command showed the boat being hit and erupting in flames and plumes of smoke.
The attack is the latest of more than two dozen U.S. strikes on alleged drug boats that have killed more than 90 people in the eastern Pacific and the Caribbean in recent months. The Trump administration has hailed the strikes as curbing the flow of drugs, including fentanyl — which is the leading cause of overdose deaths in the U.S. The synthetic opioid is often made with chemicals from China and trafficked through Mexico.
President Donald Trump signed an executive order this week designating fentanyl and its core precursor chemical as weapons of mass destruction.
The strikes also come at a time of tension between the U.S. and Venezuela. Trump announced a blockade of sanctioned oil tankers on Venezuela on Tuesday and said on Truth Social that Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro is using oil revenue to finance illicit operations, including “drug terrorism.”
