US military strikes another boat in Eastern Pacific; 3 killed

The U.S. military launched a strike Friday against a suspected drug boat in the Eastern Pacific, killing two people, U.S. Southern Command said.

It was the third attack this week in the Eastern Pacific: A strike on Wednesday killed two people; a strike launched on Tuesday killed one and left two survivors.

The U.S. campaign against narcotrafficking, which began in early September, has killed at least 202 people in the Caribbean Sea and the Eastern Pacific Ocean.

“Intelligence confirmed the vessel was transiting along known narco-trafficking routes in the Eastern Pacific and was engaged in narco-trafficking operations,” SOUTHCOM said in a post on X.

No U.S. troops were harmed.

SOUTHCOM released a 15-second video of the strike, this time in color.

The operations come after the Pentagon’s internal watchdog announced last week that it would launch an investigation into whether the U.S. strikes against drug boats have followed targeting guidelines.

The investigation into Operation Southern Spear, the Pentagon’s name for the campaign against drug trafficking in Latin America, was self-initiated and not in response to a congressional query.

Operation Southern Spear 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.