U.S. strike on alleged drug-smuggling boat kills two in Pacific: military

The U.S. military said on Thursday (February 5) it killed two alleged drug traffickers in a strike on a boat in the eastern Pacific, bringing the death toll from Washington’s campaign to at least 128.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration began targeting alleged smuggling boats in early September, insisting it is effectively at war with alleged “narco-terrorists” operating out of Venezuela.

However, administration officials have provided no definitive evidence that the vessels are involved in drug trafficking, prompting heated debate about the legality of the operations that have expanded from the Caribbean to the Pacific.

“Intelligence confirmed the vessel was transiting along known narco-trafficking routes in the Eastern Pacific and was engaged in narco-trafficking operations,” the U.S. Southern Command said in a post on X on Thursday.

“No U.S. military forces were harmed” in the operation, the post said.

It was the second reported U.S. strike on an alleged drug boat in the region since the January 3 capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, who had said the U.S. campaign of strikes was aimed at regime change in the South American country.

Mr. Maduro was taken by U.S. forces to New York, where he pleaded not guilty to drug and weapons charges.

The U.S. military carried out another strike in the eastern Pacific late last month, killing two alleged drug traffickers.

Last week, relatives of two Trinidadian men killed in a 2025 strike on a boat the military said was carrying drugs filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the US government.

It is the first such case to be brought against the Trump administration over its missile strikes in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific.