Newest assault brings loss of life toll from US strikes on vessels within the Pacific and Caribbean to at the least 170 since September.
Revealed On 14 Apr 2026
The United States navy has carried out one other assault on a vessel within the japanese Pacific, killing two individuals, within the newest lethal strike by US forces on boats that Washington alleges have hyperlinks to Latin American drug trafficking cartels.
US Southern Command (SOUTHCOM), which is answerable for Washington’s navy operations in Latin America and the Caribbean, confirmed the assault in a put up on social media late on Monday, claiming to have killed two “male narco-terrorists”, with out offering any proof.
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SOUTHCOM claimed that, primarily based on intelligence studies, the boat was “transiting alongside identified narco-trafficking routes within the Jap Pacific” and was focused with “a deadly kinetic strike” on the orders of US Commander Normal Francis L Donovan.
A grainy video clip launched with the assertion reveals a stationary boat with outboard engines and what look like floats from fishing nets close by. The boat comes below assault from the air and explodes into flames.
The assault marked the second day in a row that SOUTHCOM introduced a lethal strike on boats within the Pacific. On Sunday, the US navy mentioned it blew up two boats within the japanese Pacific a day earlier, killing 5 individuals and leaving one survivor. It was not instantly clear what occurred to the one that survived the assault, although SOUTHCOM mentioned the US coastguard was notified.
With the assault on Monday, the US navy has now killed at the least 170 individuals in dozens of strikes on vessels within the japanese Pacific and Caribbean Ocean since September.
Worldwide legislation consultants, human rights teams and regional governments have accused the administration of US President Donald Trump of finishing up extrajudicial killings in worldwide waters, which have probably focused civilians, typically fishing crews, who don’t pose a right away risk to the US.
The Trump administration claims that such assaults are a part of its warfare on drug trafficking cartels in Latin America, however has supplied no strong proof that any of the vessels focused since final 12 months have been concerned in drug trafficking.
