This display seize from a video posted on the X account of US Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) on February 5, 2026, exhibits a vessel earlier than it was struck on the route of Commander Common Francis Donovan whereas allegedly transiting alongside narco-trafficking routes in worldwide waters, on February 5, 2026.
| Photograph Credit score: AFP
The U.S. army mentioned on Thursday (February 5) it killed two alleged drug traffickers in a strike on a ship within the jap Pacific, bringing the loss of life toll from Washington’s marketing campaign to at the least 128.
U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration started concentrating on alleged smuggling boats in early September, insisting it’s successfully at conflict with alleged “narco-terrorists” working out of Venezuela.
Nonetheless, administration officers have supplied no definitive proof that the vessels are concerned in drug trafficking, prompting heated debate concerning the legality of the operations which have expanded from the Caribbean to the Pacific.
“Intelligence confirmed the vessel was transiting alongside recognized narco-trafficking routes within the Jap Pacific and was engaged in narco-trafficking operations,” the U.S. Southern Command mentioned in a publish on X on Thursday.
“No U.S. army forces had been harmed” within the operation, the publish mentioned.
It was the second reported U.S. strike on an alleged drug boat within the area for the reason that January 3 seize of Venezuelan chief Nicolas Maduro, who had mentioned the U.S. marketing campaign of strikes was geared toward regime change within the South American nation.
Mr. Maduro was taken by U.S. forces to New York, the place he pleaded not responsible to drug and weapons prices.
The U.S. army carried out one other strike within the jap Pacific late final month, killing two alleged drug traffickers.
Final week, kinfolk of two Trinidadian males killed in a 2025 strike on a ship the army mentioned was carrying medication filed a wrongful loss of life lawsuit towards the US authorities.
It’s the first such case to be introduced towards the Trump administration over its missile strikes within the Caribbean and jap Pacific.
Revealed – February 06, 2026 09:15 pm IST