The United States military carried out another strike on a suspected drug-smuggling vessel in the Eastern Pacific, killing four men aboard on October 30, 2025. The latest strike has increased the death toll in President Donald Trump’s anti-drug campaign to at least 62 people.
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the attack was carried out in international waters as part of ongoing efforts to dismantle drug-trafficking networks in the region. He announced the operation on X, sharing a video showing a small stationary boat in open waters moments before it was struck by a missile and burst into flames.
According to Hegseth, U.S. intelligence had identified the vessel as part of a narcotics-smuggling route operated by what authorities called a “Designated Terrorist Organisation.” He said the strike was ordered by President Trump and resulted in the deaths of four men, adding that no U.S. personnel were injured.
Hegseth described the mission as part of Washington’s campaign to eliminate so-called narco-terrorist threats in the Western Hemisphere. He added that the U.S. would continue targeting such groups, and that the region would no longer be a “safe haven” for drug traffickers.
Earlier today, at the direction of President Trump, the Department of War carried out a lethal kinetic strike on yet another narco-trafficking vessel operated by a Designated Terrorist Organization (DTO) in the Eastern Pacific.
However, the video released by the U.S. government had blurred sections, making it impossible to confirm how many people were onboard or whether drugs were present. The U.S. has also not released independent evidence to verify its claims that the vessel was carrying narcotics or linked to terrorism.
The incident follows several strikes two days earlier in the same area, where four other boats were hit, killing 14 people and leaving one survivor. The U.S. later sought Mexico’s help to rescue the survivor, but Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said on Wednesday that the search had been unsuccessful.
These operations are part of a military campaign launched by President Trump earlier this year to disrupt suspected narcotics networks in the Pacific Ocean. While U.S. officials say the missions are based on intelligence and target drug smugglers, critics have raised concerns about the lack of public evidence and the rising number of deaths in international waters.
The Pentagon has not provided details on the identities of those killed in Wednesday’s strike or confirmed whether any narcotics were recovered from the destroyed vessel.
