Washington, June 4 (SANA) The U.S. military announced that two people were killed in a strike targeting a boat suspected of drug smuggling in the eastern Pacific Ocean.
U.S. Southern Command (USSOUTHCOM) said in a statement posted on X that “two narcoterrorist drug traffickers were killed” during the operation conducted on Wednesday.
Video footage released alongside the statement showed a vessel speeding across the water before exploding and turning into burning wreckage.
The strike follows dozens of similar U.S. military operations targeting vessels that Washington says are involved in drug trafficking activities.
According to U.S. officials, at least 203 people have been killed in such strikes since September, when the administration began operations against what it describes as “narcoterrorists.”
U.S. President Donald Trump has said that the United States is effectively at war with drug cartels operating from Latin America. However, his administration has not publicly presented conclusive evidence linking all targeted vessels to drug-smuggling activities.
Legal experts and human rights organizations have argued that the strikes could amount to extrajudicial killings, warning that civilians who pose no direct threat to the United States may be among those killed in the attacks.
IZ/A