Two people were killed in the strike, which was the first to take place in the Pacific, signalling an expansion of US President Donald Trump’s military campaign.
The United States has conducted an eighth military strike on a vessel alleged to be carrying illicit drugs across international waters.
But for the first time, the boat in question was not in the Caribbean Sea but instead in the Pacific Ocean.
US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth confirmed the strike on social media Wednesday, saying it took place a day prior.
“Yesterday, at the direction of President Trump, the Department of War conducted a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel being operated by a Designated Terrorist Organization and conducting narco-trafficking in the Eastern Pacific,” Hegseth wrote.
“There were two narco-terrorists aboard the vessel during the strike, which was conducted in international waters. Both terrorists were killed.”
A video accompanying Hegseth’s post shows a missile striking a small blue boat clipping across the water, which subsequently erupts in flames.
The latest strike opens a new front in US President Donald Trump’s growing military campaign against Latin American cartels, fuelling questions ab
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