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The US military has conducted another strike in the eastern Pacific targeting alleged terrorists he says were engaged in drug trafficking, Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth said on Wednesday.
According to Hegseth, three suspected narco-terrorists were killed. The attack was ordered on the instructions of President Donald Trump.
Hegseth said the Pentagon conducted “another deadly attack on a ship operated by a designated terrorist organization (DTO). Once again, the dead terrorists were engaged in narco-trafficking in the eastern Pacific.”
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He further said, “Our intelligence had revealed the ship to be involved in illegal narcotics trafficking, it was passing through a known narco-trafficking route and was carrying narcotics.” “Three male narco-terrorists were aboard the ship during the attack, which was conducted in international waters. All three terrorists were killed in the attack and no US personnel were harmed.”
It is the ninth attack on a ship since September and the second in the eastern Pacific. A total of 37 people were reportedly killed, while two survived and were later deported to their home countries.
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A US military drone strike ordered by President Trump destroyed a ship in the eastern Pacific on October 22, 2025, killing three suspected narco-terrorists, according to the War Department. (War Department)
“These strikes will continue day after day,” Hegseth said Wednesday. “These are not just drug traffickers – these are narco-terrorists who are bringing death and destruction to our cities. These DTOs are the ‘Al Qaeda’ of our hemisphere and will not escape justice. We will find and kill them, until the threat to the American people is eliminated.”
The Pentagon has refused to release the identities of those killed or drug evidence on the ship.
The Trump administration has been criticized in recent weeks over the attacks, including from Senator Rand Paul, R-Ky., who raised concerns about the killing of people without due process and the possibility of innocent bystanders being killed.
A US military drone strike ordered by President Trump destroyed a ship in the eastern Pacific on October 22, 2025, killing three suspected narco-terrorists, according to the War Department. (War Department)
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In a recent interview, Paul cited Coast Guard statistics showing that a large percentage of those who board boats suspected of drug trafficking are innocent.
The senator has also argued that if the administration is planning to engage in war with Venezuela, as it has targeted boats in recent weeks, claiming they are transporting drugs for the Venezuelan-linked Tren de Aragua gang, then it should seek a declaration of war from Congress.
