WATCH: Pentagon Launches Additional Airstrikes on 4 Suspected Drug Boats in Pacific Ocean
The U.S. military has laid waste to several more suspected drug boats at sea as the Trump administration ramps up its war on suspected drug trafficking vessels in the Pacific Ocean.
Video shared on social media by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Tuesday shows the four boats bombed from the air and exploding in a cloud of dark smoke.
Once the smoke clears, the boats are seen engulfed in flames. Fourteen people were killed in the strikes, which were carried out on Monday, Hegseth said.
“Yesterday, at the direction of President Trump, the Department of War carried out three lethal kinetic strikes on four vessels operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations (DTO) trafficking narcotics in the Eastern Pacific,” Hegseth wrote in an X post. “The four vessels were known by our intelligence apparatus, transiting along known narco-trafficking routes, and carrying narcotics.”
Hegseth added: “The Department has spent over TWO DECADES defending other homelands. Now, we’re defending our own. These narco-terrorists have killed more Americans than Al-Qaeda, and they will be treated the same. We will track them, we will network them, and then, we will hunt and kill them.”
The new attack comes several days after the U.S. bombed an alleged drug-running boat in the Caribbean, killing six.
That operation was carried out overnight Friday against the boat operated by the Venezuela-based gang Tren de Aragua, Hegseth said.
The strikes in the Caribbean and the Pacific have raised questions from both sides of the political spectrum about the legality of the missions, including from Senator Rand Paul (R-KY).
President Donald Trump maintains that he has the authority to conduct the attacks without congressional approval.
Watch above via X.
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