U.S. military targets alleged drug boat in Pacific, kills two

The U.S. military said Monday it had targeted another alleged drug-smuggling boat in the eastern Pacific, killing two “narco-terrorists” as it continued its counternarcotics campaign off the coast of South America. 

The U.S. forces blew up the vessel, which was operated by a designated terrorist organization, in international waters and no U.S. service members were injured in the operation, the U.S. Southern Command (Southcom) announced on social platform X. It is unclear which terrorist group the U.S. military was referring to. 

“Intelligence confirmed the vessel was transiting along known narco-trafficking routes in the Eastern Pacific and was engaged in narco-trafficking operations,” Southcom said. 

The U.S. military attached a 22-second video of the attack, which seemed to show U.S. forces conducting at least two strikes against the vessel. 

Since Sept. 2, the U.S. military has conducted at least 28 strikes against alleged drug-smuggling boats and has killed at least 107 “narco-terrorists” in both the eastern Pacific and Caribbean. 

The administration has argued it’s curbing the flow of illegal drugs in the region and protecting the U.S., while critics of the strikes have billed the operations as extrajudicial killings done without a proper legal rationale. 

The lethal strike comes as the Trump administration has increased the pressure against Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, whom U.S. officials have called an “illegitimate president,” and as the president has mused about authorizing strikes inside Venezuela. 

President Trump said during a recent radio interview that the U.S. “knocked out” a “big” facility in Venezuela. 

On Monday, he shed some more light on the attack, saying U.S. personnel took out an “implementation area” along Venezuela’s shore. 

The president said there was a “major explosion in the dock area where they load the boats up with drugs.” 

The Venezuelan government has not commented publicly on the attack.