{"id":49100,"date":"2026-04-13T02:18:04","date_gmt":"2026-04-13T02:18:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/?p=49100"},"modified":"2026-04-13T02:18:04","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T02:18:04","slug":"u-s-says-5-killed-1-survivor-in-military-strikes-on-alleged-drug-boats-in-eastern-pacific","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/?p=49100","title":{"rendered":"U.S. says 5 killed, 1 survivor in military strikes on alleged drug boats in eastern Pacific"},"content":{"rendered":"


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The U.S. military said Sunday it had killed five more people on boats alleged to be trafficking drugs in the eastern Pacific<\/a><\/span>, with one person surviving the strikes, bringing the controversial campaign’s total death toll to at least 168.<\/p>\n

The strikes were carried out against two boats on April 11, U.S. Southern Command announced in a post on X<\/a>, accompanied by aerial video of the attacks.<\/p>\n

As with previous strikes, the U.S. military said the boats were “transiting along known narco-trafficking routes.” <\/p>\n

“Two male narco-terrorists were killed, and one narco-terrorist survived the first strike. Three male narco-terrorists were killed during the second strike,” it said, without providing any evidence of the drug trafficking claim.<\/p>\n

After the strikes, Southern Command said it notified the U.S. Coast Guard to launch a search and rescue mission for the survivor. There was no immediate word on the status of that search.<\/p>\n

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Applying total systemic friction on the cartels.<\/p>\n

On April 11, at the direction of #SOUTHCOM<\/a> commander Gen. Francis L. Donovan, Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted two lethal kinetic strikes on two vessels operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations. Intelligence\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/sRXTFYCWXu<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 U.S. Southern Command (@Southcom) April 12, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

The U.S. military began striking alleged drug boats in the Caribbean Sea and Eastern Pacific Ocean last September.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In at least six instances, people have survived the operations, spurring efforts to find and rescue them in most cases. Authorities have\u00a0called off several of those searches<\/a><\/span>, though in one October operation, two survivors were\u00a0picked up by a Navy helicopter<\/a><\/span>\u00a0and repatriated to their home countries of Ecuador and Colombia.<\/p>\n

The military’s handling of survivors has drawn intense scrutiny. During the first boat strike on Sept. 2, two people\u00a0survived an initial strike but were killed in a follow-on attack<\/a><\/span>, prompting accusations the second strike may have constituted a war crime. Democratic lawmakers who watched a video of the Sept. 2 operation\u00a0were highly critical of the strike<\/a><\/span>. The Defense Department and several congressional Republicans have insisted the survivors may have still been in the fight, warranting the follow-on strike.<\/p>\n

The Trump administration has said the strikes are necessary to combat narcotics trafficking. It has labeled the alleged drug smugglers as “unlawful combatants,” and\u00a0told Congress<\/a><\/span>\u00a0the U.S. is embroiled in a “non-international armed conflict” with cartels.<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, the families of two Trinidadian men who were killed in a U.S. missile strike on a boat in the Caribbean sued the Trump administration<\/a><\/span>, arguing the “premeditated and intentional killings lack any plausible legal justification.”<\/p>\n

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