Photo: Alamy
The United States Southern Command said Thursday that U.S. forces 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.
The command said intelligence indicated the vessel was traveling along known narco-trafficking routes and actively engaged in drug-smuggling operations.
“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 during this action. No U.S. military forces were harmed,” the statement said.
Thursday’s strike marks the second publicly disclosed operation this year involving an alleged drug-smuggling boat, according to The Hill. In a Jan. 23 operation, the military struck another suspected drug vessel in the Eastern Pacific, killing two people. One individual survived, and the United States Coast Guard conducted a search-and-rescue mission before suspending the effort after 56 hours.
Southern Command said that since Sept. 2, U.S. forces have carried out at least 37 strikes against suspected drug-smuggling boats in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific, resulting in the deaths of at least 127 individuals described as “narco-terrorists.”
The military has said the operations are part of broader efforts to disrupt transnational criminal networks involved in narcotics trafficking.
The move comes just after Secretary of War Pete Hegseth posted that some cartel traffickers have stopped operations following U.S. military strikes.
“WINNING: Some top cartel drug-traffickers in the @SOUTHCOM AOR have decided to cease all narcotics operations INDEFINITELY due to recent (highly effective) kinetic strikes in the Caribbean. This is deterrence through strength. @POTUS is SAVING American lives,” Hegseth posted to X.