The Pentagon says a suspected drug-trafficking boat moving through the eastern Pacific was the latest target in a string of lethal US strikes, NBC News reports. US Southern Command on Wednesday described the operation as "a lethal kinetic strike" on a vessel it says was run by a "Designated Terrorist Organization." Intelligence indicated the boat was traveling along a well-known trafficking corridor and was involved in narcotics smuggling, the command said on social media. Four people aboard were killed; no US personnel were injured. Military-released footage shows the vessel hit and engulfed in fire and smoke.
The strike—the second this week, per CNN, after three boats were hit Monday—is one of more than two dozen recent US attacks on alleged drug boats in the eastern Pacific and Caribbean, a campaign that officials say has killed at least 99 people. The Trump administration has framed the effort as a key tool in reducing the flow of fentanyl and other drugs into the United States. Fentanyl, a synthetic opioid linked to a surge in overdose deaths, is often produced with chemicals from China and trafficked via Mexico, according to US officials.
The action comes amid escalating friction with Venezuela. This week President Trump signed an executive order labeling fentanyl and its primary precursor chemical as weapons of mass destruction. He also announced a blockade of sanctioned oil tankers going into or out of Venezuela, accusing President Nicolás Maduro, in a post on Truth Social, of using oil income to support "drug terrorism" and other illicit activities. Maduro said Wednesday Trump's claims are "simply a warmongering and colonialist pretense."
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