Q24N — US forces attacked another vessel suspected of transporting drugs, this time in the Pacific Ocean, the Pentagon confirmed.
The attack reportedly took place in international waters near Colombia, according to CBS, citing a Washington defense official.
This is the eighth US armed attack since September 2 against vessels suspected of transporting drugs, and the first to occur in the Pacific.
Two people aboard the boat were killed and no US forces were injured, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said.
US intelligence had information about the vessel and believed it was transporting drugs along a known drug trafficking route in international waters, Hegseth added.
34 dead since September
A video of the attack appears to show a long, blue speedboat moving through the water before being hit by US ammunition.
“Narco-terrorists seeking to establish a foothold on our shores will find no refuge anywhere in our hemisphere,” the Secretary of Defense wrote on social media.
He added that “just as al-Qaeda wages war against our homeland, these cartels wage war against our border and our people.”
US President Donald Trump asserted that he has the legal authority to continue bombing ships in international waters, but indicated that he could go to the U.S. Congress if he decides to expand the targets on land.
Tensions between the US and Colombia
BBC Mundo reports that the new attacks come amid growing tensions between the Trump administration and the government of President Gustavo Petro in Colombia.
Last Sunday, Trump accused Petro of being a “drug trafficking leader” who “strongly incentivizes massive drug production, in fields large and small, throughout Colombia.”
He announced that the United States will no longer offer subsidies to Colombia, one of its closest historical allies in Latin America.
Both Colombia and neighboring Ecuador have significant Pacific coastlines, which, according to experts, are used to funnel drugs northward to the United States, through Central America and Mexico.
According to estimates by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), the vast majority of cocaine destined for U.S. cities passes through the Pacific.