Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has just announced that U.S. forces carried out a series of strikes in the Eastern Pacific that killed 14 alleged “narco-terrorists” and wounded one survivor.
In a Tuesday statement, Hegseth said the operations targeted drug-trafficking vessels tied to “Designated Terrorist Organizations (DTO).”
“All strikes were in international waters with no U.S. forces harmed,” Hegseth said.
Hegseth noted that the strikes were carried out at President Donald Trump’s direction.
He described the targets as vessels “known by our intelligence apparatus, transiting along known narco-trafficking routes, and carrying narcotics.”
Hegseth provided a breakdown of the action:
• First strike: eight male narco-terrorists aboard the vessel.
• Second strike: four male narco-terrorists aboard the vessel.
• Third strike: three male narco-terrorists aboard the vessel.
“A total of 14 narco-terrorists were killed during the three strikes, with one survivor,” he said.
Regarding the lone survivor, Hegseth said USSOUTHCOM initiated standard search-and-rescue procedures and that Mexican SAR authorities accepted the case and assumed responsibility for coordinating the rescue.
Hegseth framed the campaign in stark terms:
“The Department has spent over TWO DECADES defending other homelands.
“Now, we’re defending our own.
“These narco-terrorists have killed more Americans than Al-Qaeda, and they will be treated the same.
“We will track them, we will network them, and then, we will hunt and kill them.”
The secretary’s announcement follows earlier strikes the administration has acknowledged since September 2 against suspected drug-running vessels in the Caribbean and adjacent waters.
Hegseth said last Friday that a strike on a vessel tied to Tren de Aragua (TdA), a bloodthirsty gang which the administration has designated a DTO, killed six men in international waters.
No U.S. personnel were harmed in that operation either, Hegseth confirmed.
The administration presents the strikes as a direct, kinetic effort to disrupt transnational drug networks that officials say have become increasingly violent and increasingly tied to organized criminal groups, the Pentagon and State Department now treat as terrorist threats.
Officials emphasize that the operations took place in international waters and that coordination with regional partners, including the transfer of rescue responsibility to Mexican authorities in this latest case.
The efforts are part of standard procedure.
READ MORE – Rand Paul: Trump’s Military Strikes Against Narcoterrorist Boats Are Illegal
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