U.S. military kills 2 in first alleged drug-boat strike in two months

The U.S. military killed two people in a strike on a vessel in the eastern Pacific.

The strike was carried out on Sunday, Aug. 23.

It was the first publicly announced U.S. boat strike in more than two months.

SOUTHCOM said Joint Task Force Western Hemisphere executed a lethal kinetic strike on a low-profile vessel along established narco-trafficking routes in the Eastern Pacific.

SOUTHCOM said confirmed intelligence showed the vessel’s active involvement in narco-trafficking.

SOUTHCOM described the two people killed as narco-terrorists.

SOUTHCOM did not provide evidence that the vessel was ferrying drugs.

The military released a video showing the strike.

Gen. Francis Donovan said SOUTHCOM is committed to imposing total systemic friction on narco-terrorists.

Donovan said the operation demonstrated lethal precision and resolve to protect the U.S. homeland.

Donovan said the U.S. will not permit narco-terrorists to operate with impunity in the Western Hemisphere.

The campaign has killed 223 people in 67 strikes off the Caribbean and in the eastern Pacific.

SOUTHCOM says the campaign destroyed 64 speedboats, three low-profile ships and a semisubmersible.

The boat-strike campaign, called Operation Southern Spear, began in September 2025.

The U.S. military’s vessel strikes have killed more than 200 people.

Human rights groups, U.N. experts and legal specialists have called the strikes extrajudicial killings.

Members of Congress and human rights groups have argued suspected traffickers should face prosecution rather than being killed.

The administration has told Congress the United States is in an armed conflict with drug cartels.

The administration has offered little evidence to support its claims of killing narcoterrorists.

Sen. Tim Kaine told the White House a classified review found the strikes have likely illegally killed people not involved in narcotrafficking.

Fentanyl behind many fatal U.S. overdoses is typically trafficked over land from Mexico, made with chemicals from China and India.

The Trump administration is pursuing deals to extend the offensive onto land in Latin American countries.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Colombia, Guatemala and Honduras had agreed to joint military operations against criminal groups.

Guatemala denied reaching such a deal.

Ecuador launched similar missions with the United States in March.

The boat-bombing campaign has left numerous survivors, most of whom have never been recovered.

SOUTHCOM said there have been more than 20 search-and-rescue efforts, almost all unsuccessful.

The strikes have generated 28 survivors with only three people ever rescued.

The first strike in September 2025 left two survivors who were killed in a follow-up strike.

When the follow-up strike became public it drew concern from some lawmakers and military-law specialists.

The White House said the follow-up strike was in self-defense to destroy the boat and in accordance with armed-conflict law.

The Pentagon inspector general said in May it would look at whether the military followed the Joint Targeting Cycle.

That inspector-general evaluation is not focused on the legality of the strikes.

Kaine sits on the Senate Armed Services Committee.