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Three people were killed during the latest airstrike carried out by the United States military targeting an alleged drug boat, which took place in the Caribbean Sea on Thursday (November 6), Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth confirmed in a post shared on his X account.
"As we’ve said before, vessel strikes on narco-terrorists will continue until their the poisoning of the American people stops," Hegseth wrote on his 'Secretary of War' account, along with an 'unclassified' video. "Today, at the direction of President [Donald] Trump, the Department of War carried out a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel operated by a Designated Terrorist Organization. The vessel was trafficking narcotics in the Caribbean and was struck in international waters. No U.S. forces were harmed in the strike, and three male narco-terrorists — who were aboard the vessel — were killed. To all narco-terrorists who threaten our homeland: if you want to stay alive, stop trafficking drugs. If you keep trafficking deadly drugs—we will kill you."
The strike was the latest among at least 17 carried out by the United States military targeting alleged drug boats in the Pacific and Caribbean since September 2, which has totaled at least 69 deaths. On Tuesday (November 4), Hegseth announced that two people were killed during an airstrike in the the Eastern Pacific, which took place days after three people were killed during an airstrike in the Caribbean.
The strikes have come amid heightened tension between the Trump administration and the governments of Colombia and Venezuela.