The U.S. military said Sunday that five people were killed in boat strikes in the Eastern Pacific, stating that “intelligence confirmed the vessels were transiting along known narco-trafficking routes in the” region.
“On April 11, at the direction of #SOUTHCOM commander Gen. Francis L. Donovan, Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted two lethal kinetic strikes on two vessels operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations,” U.S. Southern Command (Southcom) said in a post on the social platform X.
“Intelligence confirmed the vessels were transiting along known narco-trafficking routes in the Eastern Pacific and were engaged in narco-trafficking operations. Two male narco-terrorists were killed, and one narco-terrorist survived the first strike. Three male narco-terrorists were killed during the second strike,” the post continued.
The post featured video of what appeared to be the strikes, with boats seen sailing across water before explosions occurring seconds later.
The U.S. military has gone through with dozens of strikes and has killed over 150 “narco-terrorists” in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific since late last summer. According to the Trump administration, the boat strikes have helped stop the flow of illicit drugs. However, some law-of-war experts have said the lethal attacks violate international law.
Late last month, the U.S. military struck another alleged drug-trafficking boat in the Caribbean, killing four people.
“Following the engagements, USSOUTHCOM immediately notified U.S. Coast Guard to activate the Search and Rescue system for the survivor. No U.S. military forces were harmed,” Southcom said in its Sunday post.
