The US military has hit a new vessel suspected of being used for drug trafficking in the Eastern Pacific, the US Southern Command said.
“Intelligence has confirmed that the vessel was traveling on known drug smuggling routes in the Eastern Pacific and was being used for drug trafficking“, the command said in X.
The strike reportedly killed three people, but no US service members were injured.
The death toll in US military strikes on suspected drug traffickers has reached at least 188.
The campaign, known as Operation “Southern Blade“ (Operation Southern Spear), has been conducted by the administration of President Donald Trump in the Caribbean Sea and the eastern Pacific Ocean since early September 2025.
More than 50 "lethal kinetic strikes" have been carried out against vessels.
On May 4, a strike in the Caribbean Sea killed two people. Previously, on April 26, 2026, three people were killed in a similar operation in the eastern Pacific Ocean.
The US Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) claims that the vessels are used by "designated terrorist organizations" to traffic drugs.
Human rights organizations and international experts describe the actions as "extrajudicial executions". So far, the military has not presented direct evidence that the hit boats were actually transporting drugs during the attacks.