US says five dead in strike on alleged drug-smuggling boat

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The US military announced it carried out a strike Tuesday on an alleged drug-smuggling boat in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing five people. The strike targeted "a go-fast vessel operating along established narco-trafficking routes", US Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) said on X. "Confirmed intelligence revealed the vessel's active involvement in narco-trafficking," SOUTHCOM added in the post, which included a video clip of a stationary vessel being engulfed in an explosion. The US military began targeting alleged narcotics-smuggling boats in early September 2025, with President Donald Trump arguing Washington is effectively at war with drug cartels operating out of Latin America. Since then, at least 235 people have been killed in strikes in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific, according to a tally by AFP. The Trump administration has not provided definitive evidence that the vessels it has been striking are involved in drug trafficking. Legal experts and rights groups say the strikes could amount to extrajudicial killings because they have apparently targeted civilians who do not pose an immediate threat to the United States.