The US military has carried out three strikes on four vessels in the eastern Pacific that it says were being used to traffic narcotics, killing 14 people and leaving one survivor, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has announced.
Mr Hegseth said the operations were carried out “at the direction of President Trump” and targeted boats operated by what the administration described as Designated Terrorist Organizations (DTOs). He said intelligence showed the vessels were travelling known narco-trafficking routes and were carrying narcotics.
According to the statement, eight men were aboard the first vessel struck, four aboard the second and three aboard the third. A total of 14 people were killed; one person survived. The strikes took place in international waters and, Mr Hegseth said, no US forces were harmed.
The department said US Southern Command (USSOUTHCOM) activated search-and-rescue protocols for the survivor, and Mexican search-and-rescue authorities accepted responsibility for coordinating the rescue.
In his statement, Mr Hegseth framed the strikes as part of a broader campaign against organised groups involved in drug trafficking. “The Department has spent over TWO DECADES defending other homelands. Now, we’re defending our own,” he said, adding that the administration regards the narco-traffickers as “narco-terrorists” and that they “will be treated the same” as Islamist terrorist groups such as al-Qaida. “We will track them, we will network them, and then, we will hunt and kill them,” the statement concluded.
The strikes represent a significant escalation in the use of US military force against transnational criminal groups, and have prompted legal questions from experts and rights groups about the authority for lethal operations against individuals who are not part of a recognised armed force. Commentators have pointed out that such strikes, outside of declared war zones and without explicit congressional authorisation, raise complex questions under both US and international law.
There has also been concern about the wider regional implications of the campaign. Recent related operations have included strikes in the Caribbean, and officials have previously said they could expand operations where they judge there is a threat to the US homeland. Mexico’s involvement in the rescue of the lone survivor underlines the cross-border dimension of the response.
Pentagon and Department of War publications and social-media posts have included video and images of strikes on vessels and repeated claims that the boats were connected to DTOs. Administration officials say the operations are intelligence-driven and aimed at disrupting organisations the US contends are responsible for a rising toll of American deaths linked to narcotics.
Reaction from other governments and international bodies was not immediately available. Journalists and analysts will be watching for further details from US military sources, for any independent verification of the strikes and for formal statements from governments in the region.
