Latest US strike on alleged drug boat in eastern Pacific kills 2

A U.S. strike Wednesday on a suspected drug boat in the eastern Pacific Ocean killed two men, U.S. Southern Command said.

The strike raises to at least 207 the total number of people killed since the U.S. campaign against “narcoterrorists” in the region began in early September.

“Intelligence confirmed the vessel was transiting along known narcotrafficking routes in the Eastern Pacific and was engaged in narcotrafficking operations,” SOUTHCOM said in a statement. A post on X included an 11-second video of the strike. No U.S. forces were harmed.

It was the first strike the military launched in the Eastern Pacific this week, and the fifth in eight days.

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.