US says strike killed five on alleged drug boat

The US military said it carried out a strike on an alleged drug-smuggling boat in the eastern Pacific Ocean on Tuesday, killing five people.

US Southern Command said on X that the strike targeted “a go-fast vessel operating along established narco-trafficking routes”. It said “confirmed intelligence” showed the vessel was actively involved in narcotics trafficking. The post included a video clip showing a stationary vessel engulfed in an explosion.

The US military began targeting alleged narcotics-smuggling boats in early September 2025. President Donald Trump has argued that 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 an AFP tally.

The Trump administration has not provided definitive evidence that the vessels it has struck were 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.