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The U.S. military carried out another strike on a suspected drug-trafficking vessel in the eastern Pacific Ocean on Monday, killing two people and leaving one survivor, according to the United States Southern Command.
“On Feb. 9, at the direction of #SOUTHCOM commander Gen. Francis L. Donovan, Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations,” U.S. Southern Command reported on X.
“Intelligence confirmed the vessel was transiting along known narco-trafficking routes in the Eastern Pacific and was engaged in narco-trafficking operations. Two narco-terrorists were killed and one survived the strike. Following the engagement, USSOUTHCOM immediately notified U.S. Coast Guard to activate the Search and Rescue system for the survivor,” it continued.
A Coast Guard spokesperson told CNN that Ecuador’s Maritime Rescue Coordination Center has assumed lead of the rescue operation, with the U.S. Coast Guard providing technical assistance.
The latest strike brings the reported death toll to at least 121 people killed in operations targeting suspected drug boats under Operation Southern Spear, a campaign the Trump administration says is intended to disrupt narcotics trafficking routes.
Administration officials have described those killed as “unlawful combatants” and asserted that lethal strikes can be conducted without judicial review under a classified Justice Department legal determination.
Monday’s strike marks the third publicly known operation of its kind this year and the second to leave a survivor, CNN noted. A January strike also killed two people and left one survivor.
Last week, RSBN reported that USSOUTHCOM said that U.S. forces also carried out a strike on a vessel suspected of drug smuggling in the Eastern Pacific, killing two people described as “narco-terrorists.”
In a post on social media, Southern Command said the operation occurred Feb. 5 and was conducted by Joint Task Force Southern Spear at the direction of SOUTHCOM Commander Francis L. Donovan.
“On Feb. 5, at the direction of #SOUTHCOM Commander Gen. Francis L. Donovan, Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations,” SOUTHCOM said in the post, which included video of the strike.
