US conducts new seaborne strike in eastern Pacific narcotrafficking

The U.S. military carried out another strike on a seaborne target in the eastern Pacific on Wednesday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced on social media, saying four men aboard the vessel were killed and the boat destroyed. The announcement followed three strikes on Monday that Hegseth said hit four vessels and killed 14 people, with one survivor whose search and rescue Mexico accepted from U.S. Southern Command. The operations took place in international waters and, officials said, did not result in U.S. casualties.

Hegseth posted video of the Wednesday strike and said the craft had been identified by U.S. intelligence as transiting a known narcotrafficking route and carrying narcotics. He described the targets as operated by organizations the administration has designated as terrorist groups and framed the campaign as directed by President Donald Trump. "These narcoterrorists have killed more Americans than al Qaeda, and they will be treated the same," Hegseth wrote in a post accompanying the footage.

The strikes are part of a campaign that began in early September and, according to U.S. officials, has so far destroyed more than a dozen vessels in the Caribbean Sea and...