The U.S. announced two more strikes on vessels suspected of transporting drugs on Thursday.
It marks the 27th and 28th boats targeted by the military, which were believed to have been transporting illegal narcotics in the Pacific Ocean. U.S. Southern Command announced the strikes in a post on X on Thursday night. Five more suspected “narco-traffickers” were killed in the incident.
“On Dec. 18, at the direction of @SecWar Pete Hegseth, Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted lethal kinetic strikes on two vessels operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations in international waters,” read the post.
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“Intelligence confirmed that the vessels were transiting along known narco-trafficking routes in the Eastern Pacific and were engaged in narco-trafficking operations,” Southern Command noted. “A total of five male narco-terrorists were killed during these actions – three in the first vessel and two in the second vessel. No U.S. military forces were harmed.”
Thursday’s strike on the two boats brings the total number of victims killed in Operation Southern Spear to at least 104 suspected drug traffickers. There have been three attacks this week, all of them occurring in the Eastern Pacific Ocean. They were the first strikes in Operation Southern Spear since Dec. 4, and come as the illegal drug trafficking enforced operation has encountered increased scrutiny from members of Congress.