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The US military carried out a strike on an alleged drug-trafficking boat in the eastern Pacific Ocean on Monday, killing two people, as part of Operation Southern Spear against narcotics smuggling, the US Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) said.
According to SOUTHCOM, the operation targeted an alleged drug boat at sea. The command confirmed that two people were killed in the strike and said no US service members were injured. "On Dec. 29, at the direction of @SecWar Pete Hegseth, Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations in international waters. Intelligence confirmed the vessel was transiting along known narco-trafficking routes in the Eastern Pacific and was engaged in narco-trafficking operations. Two male narco-terrorists were killed. No U.S. military forces were harmed," SOUTHCOM wrote in an X post. The strike was conducted by US forces under SOUTHCOM as part of an ongoing anti-narcotics campaign launched by the Trump administration. The operation took place in the eastern Pacific Ocean earlier on Monday. SOUTHCOM said the strike is linked to Operation Southern Spear, a campaign aimed at disrupting drug trafficking routes. With this latest incident, at least 107 people have now been killed in strikes on suspected drug boats during the operation, according to official figures. Earlier in the day, President Donald Trump spoke about a separate operation targeting drug infrastructure in Venezuela, offering limited details. He said there was "a major explosion in the dock area where they load the boats up with drugs." "So we hit all the boats, and now we hit the area, it's an implementation area, that's where they implement, and that is no longer around," Trump added. When asked if the US military carried out the Venezuela operation, Trump declined to clarify. "I don't want to say that," he said, CNN reported. "I know exactly who it was, but I don't want to say who it was. But you know, it was along the shore." Trump first disclosed the operation during a recent interview, where he said the US struck "a big plant, or a big facility," adding, We knocked that out," CNN quoted. The Trump administration has stepped up pressure on Venezuela in recent weeks, threatening strikes on land while launching multiple operations in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean. (ANI)
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