Attacks on three ships in the eastern Pacific Ocean killed eight people this Monday (15), according to the US military, as part of an ongoing campaign that has already claimed more than 90 lives.
“Intelligence confirmed that the ships were using known drug trafficking routes in the Pacific and were involved in drug trafficking,” the US Southern Command said in a post on
The post includes video footage of three separate boats floating in the water before being hit by the attacks.
Since early September, the US military, under the command of Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth, has targeted suspected drug trafficking boats in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean, destroying at least 26 vessels and killing at least 95 people.
The attacks were accompanied by a massive US military deployment in the Caribbean, which includes the world’s largest aircraft carrier and a number of other warships. US President Trump insisted the aim was to combat drug trafficking, while Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said he suspected it was a pretext for regime change in Caracas.
In one of the first attacks, survivors of an initial attack on a boat were killed after the United States launched a second attack on the ship, a controversial move that sparked accusations of a possible war crime.
Hegseth reiterated that he did not order a second attack, attributing it to U.S. Admiral Frank Bradley.
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