US military says 2 killed in eastern Pacific boat strike, with 1 survivor
By Clay Voytek, Aleena Fayaz, CNN
(CNN) — The US military conducted a strike against another alleged drug-trafficking boat in the eastern Pacific Ocean on Friday, killing two people with one survivor, according to US Southern Command.
“On Jan. 23, at the direction of @SecWar Pete Hegseth, Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations,” SOUTHCOM wrote on X.
The Coast Guard told CNN in a statement it was notified by SOUTHCOM and is coordinating search and rescue operations for the survivor.
At least 117 people have now been killed in strikes on suspected drug boats as part of a campaign, dubbed Operation Southern Spear, that the Trump administration has said is aimed at curtailing narcotics trafficking.
The pace of US strikes has slowed so far this year. The military most recently struck two boats on December 31, killing 5.
Friday’s attack marks the first known strike against alleged drug-trafficking boats since the US military operation that captured Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro from Caracas and brought him to New York to face criminal charges. Maduro pleaded not guilty to the charges earlier this month.
Publicly, US officials have said the goal of the boat strikes and a military buildup in the Caribbean is to stop the flow of drugs into the US, but Trump administration officials previously acknowledged in private that the US pressure campaign had been aimed at ousting Maduro.
Previous strikes left survivors
US military strikes on alleged drug-trafficking boats have previously left survivors, including a strike on December 30 in which an unspecified number of people abandoned their vessel.
The Coast Guard suspended its search for those people three days later.
Last October, the US picked up two survivors from an attack on a submarine in the Caribbean and soon after released them to their home countries of Ecuador and Colombia. Two other crew members were killed in that strike.
The US military’s controversial first strike in the operation on September 2 also left survivors. When an initial hit on the alleged drug-trafficking boat did not sink it, the military then carried out a second strike that killed two survivors who were holding onto the capsized vessel.
Democratic lawmakers have pressured the Trump administration for answers about the “double-tap” strike, including calling for the video to be released to the public, with some suggesting the US military may have committed a war crime by killing the survivors.
This story has been updated with additional details.
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