Strike on alleged drug boat kills 2 in eastern Pacific

The U.S. launched a Wednesday strike on another alleged drug boat traveling through the eastern Pacific, resulting in the death of two people.

U.S. Southern Command (Southcom) said the vessel was operated by designated terrorist organizations but did not specify which ones or provide additional evidence of the boat’s intent to transfer narcotics.

“Intelligence confirmed the vessel was transiting along known narco-trafficking routes in the Eastern Pacific and was engaged in narco-trafficking operations,” Southcom wrote on the social platform X. “Two male narco-terrorists were killed during this action. No U.S. military forces were harmed.”

The latest strikes bring the death toll up to 207 since the Trump administration began the operation in September.

Lawmakers and war experts have questioned the legality of the repeated assaults in open waters.

However, the White House defended the military actions, dubbed Operation Southern Spear, as a defensive effort to halt the transnational sale of narcotics.

Last month, the Department of Defense’s Office of Inspector General began investigating the framework used to launch the strikes — including intent, target development, analysis, decision, execution and assessment.

The watchdog said the investigation could be expanded in scope depending on the findings.

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Defense Department

drug boat strikes

Operation Southern Spear

pacific

SOUTHCOM

Trump administration

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