The U.S. military reported another lethal strike on a suspected drug-trafficking vessel in the eastern Pacific Ocean on Thursday.
According to US Southern Command, the ship “was engaging in drug trafficking activities” along known routes. This attack resulted in the deaths of two individuals.
A video accompanying the announcement reveals the boat navigating the waters before it ignites and explodes.
The airstrike was revealed just hours after U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth asserted that “leading traffickers within certain drug cartels” in the area had “chosen to halt all drug trafficking indefinitely due to recent, notably effective, attacks in the Caribbean.”
However, Hegseth didn’t elaborate or offer any evidence to back up his claims on his personal social media accounts.
Neither US Southern Command nor the Pentagon has responded to follow-up inquiries regarding Hegseth’s statements.
Since the boat attacks began in September 2025, their frequency has diminished, with only one strike occurring in January following the raid that apprehended Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. In contrast, the Pentagon targeted over a dozen ships in December 2025.
This latest attack increases the total death toll in operations against suspected drug smugglers to 128 during the Trump administration. Last week, the military reported 126 fatalities, including those presumed dead at sea.
This count includes 116 people who were killed in at least 36 strikes across the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific since early September, according to US Southern Command.
The remaining 10 are believed to have perished after being lost during searches following the airstrike.
In related news, the families of two Trinidadians who died in a Trump administration strike in October have filed a lawsuit against the federal government, describing the attack as a war crime and a part of an “unprecedented and clearly illegal U.S. military operation.”
This case may be the first wrongful death suit arising from this military campaign and could challenge the legal basis of these operations, which many observers argue violate laws of armed conflict.
President Donald Trump stated that the U.S. was engaged in an “armed conflict” with Latin American cartels, justifying the strikes as a necessary step to curb drug flow. Yet, the administration has provided scant evidence for its claims of targeting “narco-terrorists.”
