Eight alleged “narco-terrorists” were killed Monday in U.S. military strikes on three suspected drug vessels in the Eastern Pacific, the Pentagon announced.
U.S. Southern Command said in a social media post that the strikes, among nearly two dozen conducted in the region since early September, were ordered by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
The deceased included three in the first vessel, two in the second and three in the third, Southern Command said. The boats were allegedly being operated by U.S-designated terror groups in international waters, and Southern Command said they were using known narco-trafficking routes and and engaged in narco-trafficking.
The new strikes come amid increased scrutiny of a so-called double tap strike by the U.S. on Sept. 2 that killed the survivors of an initial strike on an alleged drug boat and rising tensions between the U.S. and Venezuela.
The attacks announced late Monday compose the 23rd through 25th strikes on suspected drug boats by U.S. forces in the Eastern Pacific and the Caribbean; they have killed at least 94 people.
