US military kills 2 in eastern Pacific boat strike in first attack in months
Lethal attack on low profile vessel ends two-month pause, bringing total campaign death toll to 223 across 67 strikes
After a pause of more than two months, the US military announced Monday that it once again carried out a strike on a vessel in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing two people accused of trafficking drugs.
It brings the overall death toll to 223 people killed in 67 strikes during the nearly year-long US campaign of bombing alleged drug boats off Latin America’s Caribbean coast and in the eastern Pacific Ocean. US Southern Command says the campaign has resulted in the destruction of 64 speedboats, three “low profile” ships and a semi-submersible craft.
The command said on social media early Monday that forces “executed a lethal kinetic strike on a low profile vessel operating along established narcotrafficking routes in the Eastern Pacific”.
The military said the strike occurred Sunday, and it marked the first since powerful back-to-back June 24 earthquakes in Venezuela killed thousands of people.
As with most of the military’s statements, Southern Command did not provide evidence that the vessel was ferrying drugs.
“We are committed to imposing total systemic friction on narco-terrorists – disrupting their operations, dismantling their leadership, and eliminating cartel terror across the region,” said General Francis Donovan, who leads US Southern Command.