Eight suspected “narcoterrorists” were killed Monday in U.S. strikes on three ships suspected of drug trafficking in the Eastern Pacific, defense officials said.
The US Southern Command said in a social media post that the strikes, among more than 20 carried out in the region since early September, were ordered by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
Three people were killed on board the first ship, two on the second and three on the third, Southern Command said. The boats were believed to have been operated by U.S.-designated terrorist groups in international waters, and Southern Command said they used known drug trafficking routes and engaged in drug trafficking.
The new strikes come amid growing tensions between the United States and Venezuela and increased scrutiny of the so-called US-led double strike on September 2, which killed survivors of a first strike on a suspected drug boat.
These are the 23rd to 25th known strikes against suspected drug trafficking boats by U.S. forces in the Eastern Pacific and Caribbean; they killed at least 94 people.
The Trump administration defended the strikes, saying they were key to preventing fentanyl, a synthetic opioid often made from chemicals from China and shipped through Mexico, from entering the country. Fentanyl is the leading cause of overdose deaths in the country.
“The stated intent is to stop deadly drugs, destroy narco-ships and kill narco-terrorists who are poisoning the American people,” Hegseth said on X last month. “Every trafficker we kill is affiliated with a designated terrorist organization. »
On Monday, President Donald Trump signed an executive order designating fentanyl and its main precursor chemical as weapons of mass destruction.
