US Targets Narco-Traffickers In Pacific Strike, 4 Dead As Anti-Drug Campaign Intensifies

Last Updated:October 30, 2025, 07:36 IST

The attack, conducted in international waters, is part of Washington’s controversial anti-narcotics campaign, which has now claimed at least 62 lives since September.

The latest strike follows a series of similar operations in the eastern Pacific that have drawn international criticism. (AFP)

The US military on Wednesday struck another vessel in the eastern Pacific that it said was involved in drug trafficking, killing four people on board, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced.

The attack, conducted in international waters, is part of Washington’s controversial anti-narcotics campaign, which has now claimed at least 62 lives since September.

“Earlier today, at the direction of President Trump, the Department of War carried out a lethal kinetic strike on yet another narco-trafficking vessel operated by a Designated Terrorist Organization (DTO) in the Eastern Pacific," Hegseth said in a statement posted on X.

“This vessel, like all the others, was known by our intelligence to be involved in illicit narcotics smuggling, was transiting along a known narco-trafficking route, and carrying narcotics. Four male narco-terrorists were aboard the vessel—and killed—during the strike, which was conducted in international waters. No U.S. forces were harmed in this strike."

In a video accompanying his post, a small boat is seen floating stationary in the ocean before a sudden explosion and fireball. “The Western Hemisphere is no longer a safe haven for narco-terrorists bringing drugs to our shores to poison Americans. The Department of War will continue to hunt them down and eliminate them wherever they operate," Hegseth added.

The latest strike follows a series of similar operations in the eastern Pacific that have drawn international criticism. On Monday, four separate US strikes killed 14 people and left one survivor, whom Washington asked Mexico to rescue. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum later said search efforts had failed.

Critics have described the ongoing campaign as extrajudicial, noting that the US has not released verifiable evidence that those targeted were drug traffickers or posed a direct threat to the United States.

News world US Targets Narco-Traffickers In Pacific Strike, 4 Dead As Anti-Drug Campaign Intensifies

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