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US military kills four more suspected drug smugglers in eastern Pacific as Defense Secretary pete hegseth Vow to “hunt them down and destroy them.”
Since early September, the Trump administration Boats have been targeted in the Pacific and Caribbean He claims they are smuggling drugs into America. Neither the White House nor the Pentagon have publicly shared any evidence that these boats are being operated by drug cartels.
Hegseth announced the latest attacks in an X post Wednesday night.
“Earlier today, at the direction of President Trump, the War Department conducted a deadly attack on another narco-trafficking vessel operated by a designated terrorist organization (DTO) in the Eastern Pacific,” Hegseth said. wrote,
On Monday, Hegseth announced that Trump had directed three more attacks on alleged drug boats. killed at least 14 people,
“This ship, like all the others, was known by our intelligence to be involved in illegal narcotics trafficking, it was transiting along a known narco-trafficking route and was carrying narcotics,” Hegseth said of Wednesday’s attack.
Hegseth said four “narco-terrorists” were killed in the latest attack and no US forces were harmed. Overall, more than 60 people have been killed in the attacks since September 2. ABC News Report.
Last month, the Trump administration announced that the U.S. Formally engaged in “armed conflict” with drug cartels According to a notice to members of Congress, the President has labeled them “unlawful combatants.”
The notice claims that the cartels are “non-state armed groups” whose activities “constitute an armed attack against the United States.”
“The Western Hemisphere is no longer a safe haven for narco-terrorists bringing drugs to our shores to poison Americans,” Hegseth warned. “The War Department will continue to seek them out and eliminate them wherever they operate.”
The Trump administration’s nearly two-month-long campaign in South American waters, along with the buildup of U.S. military forces in the region, has fueled speculation that the moves are aimed at ousting the Venezuelan president. Nicolas MaduroWhom America has accused of drug terrorism.
Pentagon officials will brief the House Armed Services Committee on the attacks on Thursday axios,
During a press conference on Wednesday, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said: “We’ll see if the administration can ultimately come forward with evidence of the nature of the people who are being killed, their connection to the drug trade, and what legal authority the administration has to engage in what some have called extrajudicial killings.”
A Trump administration official said Monday that it had already provided Congress with seven separate classified briefings on the attacks.
“The administration provided seven separate classified briefings to Congress since the beginning of September, involving House leadership, Senate leadership, members or staff of the House and Senate Armed Services Committees, the House and Senate Intelligence Committees, and the House Foreign Affairs and Senate Foreign Relations Committees,” a senior Trump official said. cnn,
The Associated Press contributed to this report.