The US military carried out a strike Thursday on a suspected drug boat in the Eastern Pacific, killing four people on board, according to a social media post from US Southern Command,
CNN reports.
“Southern Spear conducted a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel in international waters operated by a Designated Terrorist Organization. Intelligence confirmed that the vessel was carrying illicit narcotics and transiting along a known narco-trafficking route in the Eastern Pacific. Four male narco-terrorists aboard the vessel were killed,” the post says.
Alongside the post is a 21-second-long video showing the boat being struck.
Thursday’s strike comes as the Pentagon is facing bipartisan criticism over a September attack on an alleged drug vessel in which the military fired follow-up strikes, killing surviving crew members. At least 87 people have now been killed in strikes on 23 suspected drug boats as part of a campaign, dubbed Operation Southern Spear, that the Trump administration has said is aimed at curtailing narcotics trafficking.
The criticism has done little to dissuade the administration. On Thursday, Turning Point USA’s Andrew Kolvet responded to a post on X from Democratic Senate Leader Chuck Schumer calling for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to resign.
“Every new attack aimed at Pete Hegseth makes me want another narco drug boat blown up and sent to the bottom of the ocean,” Kolvet wrote.
“Your wish is our command, Andrew. Just sunk another narco boat,” Hegseth replied.
Hegseth’s comment came hours after US Navy Adm. Frank “Mitch” Bradley briefed leaders Thursday on Capitol Hill about the controversial September incident in what is the most significant congressional scrutiny of the president’s military campaign in the Caribbean so far.
