Two killed in US strike on alleged drug boat in Pacific Ocean, US Southern Command says

The US military has conducted another strike on an alleged drug smuggling boat in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing two people, US Southern Command has said. Southern Command, whose area of responsibility includes South America, Central America and the Caribbean, announced the strike in a post on X on Friday. "Intelligence confirmed the vessel was transiting along known narco-trafficking routes in the Eastern Pacific and was engaged in narco-trafficking operations," the officials said. The incident is the latest in a series of US strikes on alleged drug trafficking boats since the Trump administration launched its campaign in September. Southern Command said "two male narco-terrorists" were killed in the action, and no US military forces were harmed. "On April 24, at the direction of [Southern Command] commander Gen Francis L Donovan, Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel operated by Designated Terrorist Organisations," the unit said in its post on X. The unit also shared a video showing what appeared to be a small fishing boat being struck, causing a large explosion that left the vessel in flames. Under the Trump administration, US forces h