'Narco-trafficking operations': Another US strike on alleged drug boat in Pacific Ocean kills 3

The US military carried out another strike on a boat they have alleged of smuggling drugs in the eastern Pacific Ocean on Friday, killing three men and pushing the overall death toll from a months-long campaign against alleged cartel vessels above 200 people.

US Southern Command announced the strike, the third this week, with its standard language that the vessel was "engaged in narco-trafficking operations" and operated by a designated terrorist organization. It provided no evidence.

The attack puts the death toll at 202 people from the series of US strikes that began in early September. Two other attacks were announced on Tuesday and Wednesday.The video footage released by the military appears to be the first in color instead of black and white. It shows a small vessel floating in the ocean before it is hit and engulfed in a fireball, then cuts to what could be the boat in flames, surrounded by a large plume of parcels or other objects spread in the water.

US Southern Command said in a post on X that the strike came at the direction of Gen. Francis L. Donovan, the top US commander in Latin America, who on Friday also met with Cuban military leaders near the US Navy base in Guantanamo Bay.

"SOUTHCOM is unwavering in its commitment to applying total systemic friction on the cartels," the command said.
The Trump administration has declared that the US is at armed conflict with Latin American drug cartels, saying they are behind the flow of drugs into American communities.

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