U.S. Southern Command announced on Wednesday another military strike on a suspected drug vessel in the Eastern Pacific Ocean. It was the fourth strike conducted by the military in the Southern Hemisphere in the last five days. Three suspected drug traffickers were killed in the latest operation, putting the total of the number of fatalities in military strikes in the Southern Hemisphere in the last week at 14.
Southern Command announced its latest strike late Wednesday night in a press release and on its social media platforms.
“On April 15, at the direction of the commander of U.S. Southern Command, Gen. Francis L. Donovan, Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations,” read the release.
Keeping up with their pattern of explaining how U.S. forces were aware the people on the vessel were known drug traffickers, Southern Command said their identities as “narco-terrorists” were confirmed by U.S. intelligence reports, highlighting the boat’s presence along “known narco-trafficking routes in the Eastern Pacific.”
US SAYS IT KILLED FOUR SUSPECTED DRUG TRAFFICKERS IN EASTERN PACIFIC BOAT STRIKE
“Intelligence confirmed the vessel was transiting along known narco-trafficking routes in the Eastern Pacific and was engaged in narco-trafficking operations,” read the Southern Command press release. “Three male narco-terrorists were killed during this action. No U.S. military forces were harmed.”
The first U.S. military strike in April on suspected drug trafficking vessels occurred on Saturday and subsequent strikes happened on Monday and Tuesday. At least 53 suspected drug boats have been targeted in strikes since Operation Southern Spear began in September. As of Wednesday’s operation, the total known number of fatalities from Operation Southern Spear strikes in the Caribbean Sea and Eastern Pacific Ocean is 178.