Washington: The US Southern Command announced an attack on a ship in the Pacific Ocean, which it said belonged to terrorists linked to drug trafficking. The Southern Command stated on its social media platform X: “At the direction of US Secretary of Defense Pete Higseth, our forces conducted a lethal kinetic strike against a vessel operated by designated terrorist organizations.”

According to National Iraqi News Agency, the Southern Command indicated that the US Army’s “Southern Spear” field group carried out the strike. Intelligence confirmed that the vessel was using known drug smuggling routes in the eastern Pacific Ocean and was actively involved in drug trafficking operations.

The statement revealed that the strike resulted in the deaths of two drug smugglers, while one person survived. US President Donald Trump had previously declared on several occasions that the United States was waging a war on drug traffickers in Latin America.