Topline
The U.S. military struck two vessels in the eastern Pacific Ocean on Sunday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said in a statement on social media Monday morning, killing six people accused of being “narco-terrorists” as the Trump administration’s campaign targeting drug trafficking routes in the Pacific and the Caribbean Sea.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the vessels were carrying drugs and traveling on a “known narco-trafficking transit route in the Eastern Pacific.”
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Key Facts
The U.S. struck two different boats in the Pacific on Sunday, Hegseth said, each carrying three people he said were “male narco-terrorists” in international waters.
Hegseth said both boats were “associated” with known narcotics smuggling operations, carrying drugs and traveling “along a known narco-trafficking transit route in the Eastern Pacific,” but did not disclose their identities or where exactly in the Pacific Ocean they were found.
He also said both vessels were operated by “Designated Terrorist Organizations,” but did not clarify which organization.
Key Background
The Trump administration’s campaign targeting boats began with strikes in the Caribbean Sea in September, targeting what it called narcotics traffickers. The U.S. has since built up its military presence in the Caribbean, deploying troops to Puerto Rico and sending the USS Gerald R. Ford, the Navy’s most advanced aircraft carrier, to the region. In October, the military also began striking vessels in the Pacific Ocean as well, targeting a vessel off the coast of Colombia. At least 76 people have been killed since the strikes began in September, CNN reported.