The U.S. military attacked a boat accused of smuggling drugs in the eastern Pacific Ocean on June 16m 2026, killing one man and leaving two survivors (U.S. Southern Command)
U.S. forces launched a strike Tuesday on an alleged drug boat in the eastern Pacific, killing one and leaving two survivors, U.S. Southern Command said.
SOUTHCOM posted a 5-second video on X showing the boat being struck and bursting into flames. No U.S. personnel were harmed in the operation.
SOUTHCOM notified the U.S. Coast Guard to conduct search and rescue efforts.
The U.S. strikes that began in early September have killed at least 208 people in the Caribbean Sea and the Eastern Pacific Ocean.
President Donald Trump has said the U.S. is in “armed conflict” with cartels in Latin America and has justified the attacks as a necessary escalation to stem the flow of drugs. But his administration has offered little evidence to support its claims of killing “narcoterrorists.”
The Pentagon’s internal watchdog announced last month 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.
The Pentagon came under scrutiny last year after The Washington Post reported that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth issued a verbal order in September to strike an alleged drug vessel a second time to kill any survivors.
The White House in December said that a Navy admiral ordered the second strike on an alleged drug boat that killed 11 people in September.
The Republican chairmen of the House and Senate Armed Services Committees that month said they were satisfied with the Pentagon’s explanation for a strike on an alleged drug boat that killed two survivors and would not pursue further congressional oversight of the episode.
