The U.S. military said it carried out another strike Monday on a boat it accused of trafficking drugs in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing two people, according to the Associated Press. The campaign of attacks on vessels that the Trump administration says are trafficking drugs in Latin American waters has persisted for more than seven months and continues even as the military has been preoccupied for more than six weeks with the Iran war, the AP reported.
The U.S. Southern Command announced on social media that it blew up two boats in the eastern Pacific on Saturday, killing a total of five people and leaving one survivor, according to the AP. It was not immediately clear what happened to that person.
With the latest attack Monday, at least 170 people have been killed in the boat strikes since the effort began in early September, months ahead of the U.S. raid in January that captured then-Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, the AP reported. Maduro was brought to New York to face drug trafficking charges and has pleaded not guilty.
U.S. Southern Command repeated previous statements by saying it had targeted the alleged drug traffickers along known smuggling routes, according to the AP. The military did not provide evidence that the vessel was ferrying drugs but posted a video on X showing a small boat floating in the water before a huge blast hits it and smoke is seen pouring from the vessel.
President Donald Trump has said the U.S. is in “armed conflict” with cartels in Latin America and has justified the attacks as a necessary escalation to stem the flow of drugs into the United States and fatal overdoses claiming American lives, according to the AP.