U.S. strikes another alleged drug boat, killing 2 ‘narco-terrorists’
The United States struck another suspected drug boat in the eastern Pacific on Thursday, killing two people, the U.S. Southern Command announced on social media.
“Intelligence has confirmed that the vessel was transiting known drug trafficking routes in the Eastern Pacific and was engaged in narcotics trafficking operations,” the post on X said. “Two narcoterrorists were killed during this action. No U.S. military forces were injured.”
The strike is at least the 35th since September, but only the second since the United States captured Nicolás Maduro, then President of Venezuela, in a military operation on January 3 and took him to the United States on charges including narcoterrorism conspiracy and cocaine importation conspiracy. Maduro, who is being held in a New York prison, has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
The Trump administration argued that the strikes, which killed at least 116 people, served the national security goal of stopping the flow of drugs into the United States.
The latest strike is also the first since President Donald Trump met this week with Colombian President Gustavo Petro, who has repeatedly denounced the strikes, comparing them to war crimes. Colombian citizens have been injured or killed in previous strikes.
Trump has said stopping the flow of drugs into the United States is one of his priorities, and he told reporters Tuesday that he and Petro — whom he previously called a “drug leader” — had discussed counternarcotics efforts.
The announcement made Thursday by Southern Command did not specify where the boat was coming from or where it was heading.
The US military has carried out dozens of deadly strikes since September. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was investigated following a September 2 strike in which the military again struck a boat after the first strike failed to kill all on board.
Some legal experts have said the second strike could constitute a war crime if ordered with the intent to kill incapacitated survivors. A defense official told NBC News in December that the admiral who ordered the second strike considered the survivors legitimate military targets, and Hegseth defended the admiral.
