Photo: U.S. Southern Command
Eight people accused of being "narco-terrorists" were killed during U.S. strikes on three alleged drug vessels in the eastern Pacific ordered by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Monday (December 15), the U.S. Southern Command confirmed in a social media post.
"On Dec. 15, at the direction of @SecWar Pete Hegseth, Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted lethal kinetic strikes on three vessels operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations in international waters. Intelligence confirmed that the vessels were transiting along known narco-trafficking routes in the Eastern Pacific and were engaged in narco-trafficking. A total of eight male narco-terrorists were killed during these actions—three in the first vessel, two in the second and three in the third. #OpSouthernSpear," the unified combatant command wrote in the post, which also included unclassified video footage of the strike.
The U.S. military has now killed at least 94 people during 25 known strikes on suspected drug boats in the eastern Pacific and Caribbean since early September, which have coincided with rising tension between the U.S. and Venezuela. House and Senate lawmakers questioned Adm. Frank Bradley, who directed strikes against a suspected drug vessel in the Caribbean Sea on September 2, after the Washington Post reported that Hegseth ordered no survivors be left in the initial mission.
President Donald Trump's administration has defended the strikes, claiming they were critical in halting the flow of fentanyl into the U.S. Fentanyl, a synthetic opioid commonly made with chemicals from China and trafficked through Mexico, is the leading cause of overdose deaths in the U.S.
"The declared intent is to stop lethal drugs, destroy narco-boats, and kill the narco-terrorists who are poisoning the American people,” Hegseth wrote on his X account last month. “Every trafficker we kill is affiliated with a Designated Terrorist Organization.”