US Strike on Alleged Drug Boat Kills Three in Eastern Pacific Ocean in Fourth Attack This Week

WASHINGTON: The US military said it carried out another strike Saturday on a boat accused of smuggling drugs in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing three men in the fourth attack this week and bringing the total death toll to 205. US Southern Command announced the strike with its usual language that the vessel was "engaged in narco-trafficking operations" and operated by a designated terrorist organization, though it provided no evidence for the allegation.

This is the latest in a month-long campaign against alleged drug boats traversing the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific, with military video released on social media showing a small vessel floating in the ocean before it was hit and engulfed in a fireball.

The attack brings the death toll to 205 in a series of US strikes that began in early September, with other attacks announced on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday, as the Trump administration has declared that the US is at armed conflict with Latin American drug cartels, saying they are behind the flow of drugs into American communities.

US Southern Command said in its post on X that the strike came at the direction of Gen. Francis L. Donovan, the top US commander in Latin America.