US kills 14 in strikes on alleged Pacific drug boats

AFP | Washington

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US forces killed 14 people in strikes that destroyed four alleged drug-smuggling boats in the eastern Pacific Ocean, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Tuesday, bringing the death toll from Washington’s anti-narcotics campaign to at least 57.

The United States began carrying out the strikes -- which experts say are illegal -- in early September, and has now destroyed at least 14 vessels in the Caribbean and Pacific.

“A total of 14 narco-terrorists were killed during the three strikes, with one survivor. All strikes were in international waters with no US forces harmed,” Hegseth said in a post on X about strikes carried out the day before.

“The four vessels were known by our intelligence apparatus, transiting along known narco-trafficking routes, and carrying narcotics,” he said.

The Pentagon chief ’s post included video of the strikes, the first of which targeted two stationary boats that appeared to be moored together, and the other two on vessels that were speeding across open water.

Hegseth said that US Southern Command “immediately” started searching for the sole survivor of the strikes, and that Mexican authorities “accepted the case and assumed responsibility for coordinating the rescue.”

He did not specify what happened to the survivor or if the person was found.

“We will track them, we will network them, and then, we will hunt and kill them,” Hegseth said of drug traffickers.