Hegseth says US conducted another strike in Eastern Pacific targeting alleged narco-traffickers

Hegseth says US conducted another strike in Eastern Pacific targeting alleged narco-traffickers

Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth said on Wednesday that the U.S. military has carried out another strike in the Eastern Pacific targeting alleged terrorists he says were engaged in narco-trafficking.

Three suspected narco-terrorists were killed, according to Hegseth. The strikes were ordered at the direction of President Donald Trump. 

Hegseth said the Pentagon conducted "yet another lethal kinetic strike on a vessel operated by a Designated Terrorist Organization (DTO). Yet again, the now-deceased terrorists were engaged in narco-trafficking in the Eastern Pacific."

"The vessel was known by our intelligence to be involved in illicit narcotics smuggling, was transiting along a known narco-trafficking route, and was carrying narcotics," he continued. "Three male narco-terrorists were aboard the vessel during the strike, which was conducted in international waters. All three terrorists were killed and no U.S. forces were harmed in this strike."

This is the ninth vessel strike since September and the second strike reported in the Eastern Pacific.

"These strikes will continue, day after day," Hegseth said on Wednesday. "These are not simply drug runners—these are narco-terrorists bringing death and destruction to our cities. These DTOs are the "Al Qaeda" of our hemisphere and will not escape justice. We will find them and kill them, until the threat to the American people is extinguished."

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The Pentagon has refused to release the identities of those killed or evidence of drugs on board.

Category World
Published Oct 23, 2025
Last Updated 2 hours ago