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US Military Strikes Alleged Drug Boat in Eastern Pacific, Killing 2
The campaign has killed at least 183 people since September, while rights groups and lawmakers question the legal basis for the strikes.
On Friday, U.S. Southern Command conducted a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel in the Eastern Pacific, killing two individuals the military identified as "male narco-terrorists."
This action continues Operation Southern Spear, a campaign launched by the Trump administration in September 2025 to disrupt narcotics trafficking. President Donald Trump has justified these operations as part of an "armed conflict" with cartels.
The campaign's total death toll has reached at least 183 since September, though the U.S. military has provided no public evidence that targeted vessels were carrying drugs.
Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have condemned the strikes as "unlawful extrajudicial killings," arguing the military cannot deliberately target individuals without offering due process under international law.
These operations have prompted congressional pushback over legal justification, while the U.S. military simultaneously conducts broader maritime enforcement, including seizing vessels in the Indian Ocean.
Two people were killed in an attack by U.S. forces on a boat in the eastern Pacific allegedly engaged in drug trafficking, bringing the number of people killed in Washington's campaign against drug trafficking in Latin America to 182.