Pentagon kills 6 in strike on suspected drug trafficking vessel at sea

The Pentagon announced Sunday that U.S. forces carried out a deadly strike against a ship allegedly carrying drug traffickers in the Eastern Pacific, killing six people on board.

The U.S. Southern Command said it conducted “a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel operated by designated terrorist organizations” under the direction of the new head of Southern Command, Marine Corps Gen. Francis L. Donovan, who took office in January.

“Intelligence confirmed that the vessel was transiting known drug trafficking routes in the Eastern Pacific and was engaged in narcotics trafficking operations,” Southern Command said in a press release.

The U.S. Southern Command said it conducted “a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel operated by designated terrorist organizations.” (United States Southern Command)

Six men aboard the ship were killed but no U.S. forces personnel died in the attack on the ship, according to Southern Command.

This latest strike brings to at least 156 the death toll in the Trump administration’s attacks on ships carrying people it accuses of drug trafficking, according to the New York Times.

It is the 45th strike since the United States began targeting ships in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific in early September and comes amid a recent increase in the pace of strikes, the newspaper reported.

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Six men aboard the ship were killed, but no U.S. forces personnel lost their lives during the attack on the ship. (Julia Démarée Nikhinson/AP)

Sunday’s attack was one of the deadliest boat strikes carried out by the military in recent weeks.

“Going on the offensive with Operation Southern Spear has restored deterrence against narco-terrorist cartels that have profited from the poisoning of Americans,” Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth said last week. “Last month, we went a few weeks without targeting a single boat. Why? Well, because we didn’t find many boats to sink, and that’s the whole point, is to establish a deterrent against narcoterrorists who have been able to traffic almost unimpeded.”

The Pentagon has refused to release the identities of those killed in strikes since last fall or provide proof of the presence of drugs on board.

The Pentagon has refused to release the identities of those killed in the strikes or provide proof of the presence of drugs on board. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

The administration has faced scrutiny in recent months over the strikes, including from Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., who has raised concerns about killing people without due process and potentially killing innocent people.

“I look at my colleagues who call themselves pro-life and value God’s inspiration in life, but they don’t care about these people in the boats,” Paul said in January. “Are they terrible people on the boats? I don’t know. They’re probably poor people in Venezuela and Colombia.”

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The senator previously cited Coast Guard statistics that show a significant percentage of boats boarded on suspicion of drug trafficking are innocent.

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