US says five dead in strike on alleged drug-smuggling boat
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
US Southern Command said on X on Oct 27 that the military had carried out a strike on an alleged drug-smuggling boat in the eastern Pacific Ocean.
SCREENSHOT: @SOUTHCOM/X
- The US military said it struck an alleged drug-smuggling boat in the eastern Pacific on 27 October, killing five people, SOUTHCOM said.
- Washington said the vessel was a “go-fast vessel” on “established narco-trafficking routes” and had “active involvement in narco-trafficking”.
- The strikes began in September 2025 under President Donald Trump; AFP says at least 235 people have died, while critics call them possible “extrajudicial killings”.
AI generated
WASHINGTON - The US military announced it carried out a strike on Oct 27 on an alleged drug-smuggling boat in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing five people.
The strike targeted “a go-fast vessel operating along established narco-trafficking routes,” US Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) said on X.
“Confirmed intelligence revealed the vessel’s active involvement in narco-trafficking,” SOUTHCOM added in the post, which included a video clip of a stationary vessel being engulfed in an explosion.
The US military began targeting alleged narcotics-smuggling boats in early September 2025, with President Donald Trump arguing Washington is effectively at war with drug cartels operating out of Latin America.
Since then, at least 235 people have been killed in strikes in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific, according to a tally by AFP.
The Trump administration has not provided definitive evidence that the vessels it has been striking are involved in drug trafficking.
Legal experts and rights groups say the strikes could amount to extrajudicial killings because they have apparently targeted civilians who do not pose an immediate threat to the United States. AFP