WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced Wednesday that the U.S. military carried out another strike on a boat he said was carrying drugs in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing all four people aboard the vessel, as the Trump administration pursues its divisive campaign against drug cartels in the waters off South America.
Hegseth said in a social media post that intelligence determined the craft was “transiting along a known narco-trafficking route, and carrying narcotics.” He said the strike was conducted in international waters and no U.S. forces were harmed.
A video posted by Hegseth shows a boat exploding into flames and smoke.
The Trump administration has been conducting a nearly two-month campaign in the waters off of South America, while building up U.S. military forces in the region. This has fueled speculation that the moves are aimed at ousting Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, whom the U.S. has accused of narcoterrorism.
The Trump administration has shown no evidence to support its claims about the boats that have been struck, their connection to drug cartels, or even the identity of the people killed in the strikes that began in early September.