The US military has launched yet another deadly strike on an alleged drug boat in the Pacific. 

The attack came on Friday (February 20) when the US Southern Command “conducted a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations,” as the command itself said on X. 

The attack allegedly killed “three male narco-terrorists” and is the second strike this week. The Southern Command, led by Gen Francis Donovan, also added no US military forces were harmed.

On Monday, February 16, the US military said to have launched strikes on three alleged drug boats killing 11 people in the operation. A message released by the US Southern Command on Tuesday claims 11 “male narco-terrorists” were killed. 

US military officials said four died on one vessel located in the Eastern Pacific, four on a second vessel also in the Eastern Pacific and three aboard of a third vessel in the Caribbean. 

Writing on X, the US Southern Command said post: “Intelligence confirmed the vessels were transiting along known narco-trafficking routes and were engaged in narco-trafficking operations.” So far, a total of 42 strikes have been carried out by the Trump administration on alleged drug boats in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean since September, when the US President called on his country’s military to attack “narco-terrorists” on small vessels.

The pace of strikes, however, appears to have declined since early January, when US forces captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in an operation launched on Caracas.

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The Trump administration has accused Mr Maduro of cooperating with drug‑trafficking networks, an allegation he has denied, and he has been charged at a Manhattan court with narco-terrorism conspiracy, cocaine importation conspiracy, possession of machine guns and destructive devices, and conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

The US operations on alleged drug boats is aimed at removing “narco-terrorists from our hemisphere” and securing the US from “the drugs that are killing our people”.