US strikes alleged drug boat in Eastern Pacific, killing 2 and leaving 1 survivor

U.S. forces launched a strike against a suspected drug boat in the Eastern Pacific on Friday, killing two and leaving one survivor, U.S. Southern Command said.

The Trump administration’s campaign against alleged drug traffickers in the region, launched in early September, has killed at least 193 people. 

“Intelligence confirmed the vessel was transiting along known narcotrafficking routes in the Eastern Pacific and was engaged in narcotrafficking operations,” SOUTHCOM said in the statement, which included a 10-second video of the strike. No U.S. forces were harmed.

The Coast Guard was notified and began a search-and-rescue operation for the survivor.

Operation Southern Spear, the name for the campaign against drug trafficking in Latin America, has continued despite the U.S. military’s focus on the Middle East. Strikes under the operation have increased in frequency in recent weeks after a relative lull that followed the capture of former Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro in January.

The White House announced Wednesday that President Donald Trump has signed off on a new U.S. counterterrorism strategy that sets eliminating drug cartels in the Western Hemisphere as the administration’s highest priority.