US Military Strikes Suspected Drug Boat in Eastern Pacific, Killing 3

Footage posted by the U.S. military showed the vessel moving rapidly before it was struck and engulfed in flames.

A screenshot from footage of a boat strike targeting drug trafficking in the Eastern Pacific on April 26, 2026. U.S. Southern Command

The U.S. military launched a kinetic strike targeting a boat that it stated was ferrying drugs in the Eastern Pacific on April 26, killing three people onboard, according to U.S. Southern Command.

Footage posted by Southern Command on X showed the vessel moving rapidly before it was struck and engulfed in flames.

The command said intelligence had indicated that the boat was operated by a designated terrorist organization and was transiting along known drug-trafficking routes in the Eastern Pacific.

“Three male narco-terrorists were killed during this action. No U.S. military forces were harmed,” it stated.

The command did not specify which terrorist organization it was referring to.

This marked the second such strike in days, after an April 24 attack in which U.S. forces struck a suspected drug-trafficking vessel in the Eastern Pacific, resulting in two deaths. No U.S. personnel were harmed in the incident.

The strikes are part of the Trump administration’s campaign to stem drug trafficking into the United States. The U.S. military has launched numerous strikes targeting suspected drug-smuggling boats in the Caribbean Sea and Eastern Pacific since September 2025, which have resulted in at least 186 deaths.

In October 2025, the administration notified Congress that President Donald Trump had determined that the United States was in “a non-international armed conflict” with drug cartels. It stated that past efforts that relied on the use of law enforcement alone were not sufficient to curb the flow of illegal drugs into the country.

“Although friendly foreign nations have made significant efforts to combat these organizations, suffering significant losses of life, these groups are now transnational and conduct ongoing attacks throughout the Western Hemisphere as organized cartels,” reads the report, obtained by The Epoch Times on Oct. 2, 2025.

“Therefore, the President determined these cartels are non-state armed groups, designated them as terrorist organizations, and determined that their actions constitute an armed attack against the United States.”

The U.S. military conducts a deadly military strike against an alleged drug boat tied to the cartel Tren de Aragua, in a still from video footage of the strike shared by President Donald Trump on Truth Social on Sept. 2, 2025. @realDonaldTrump via Truth Social

Some lawmakers have raised concerns about the strikes.

During classified briefings to review a September 2025 strike in the southern Caribbean that killed two survivors of a previous strike, Rep. Jim Himes (D-Conn.) said the video footage shown during the briefing was “one of the most troubling things” he had seen in public service.

“You have two individuals in clear distress without any means of locomotion, with a destroyed vessel ... killed by the United States,” Himes told reporters on Dec. 4, 2025.

Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) speaks at the U.S. Capitol on Nov. 13, 2024. Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

Responding to the concerns, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) said that he didn’t “see anything disturbing about it” and instead emphasized the harm caused to Americans by drugs smuggled into the country by cartels.

“What’s gratifying to me is that the president has made the decision, finally, after decades of letting it happen, that we’re going to take the battle to them, and we’re going to continue to strike these boats until cartels learn their lesson that their drugs are no longer coming to America,” Cotton told reporters at the time.