Hegseth says six people killed in two new US attacks on alleged drug boats

US forces struck two more alleged drug trafficking boats off the coast of South America, killing six people, the Trump administration’s defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, has said.

The US began carrying out such strikes – which some experts say amount to extrajudicial killings even if they target known traffickers – in early September, taking aim at vessels in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific.

“Yesterday, at the direction of President Trump, two lethal kinetic strikes were conducted on two vessels operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations,” Hegseth said.

He added in a social media post on X: “Both strikes were conducted in international waters and 3 male narco-terrorists were aboard each vessel. All 6 were killed. No US forces were harmed. Under President Trump, we are protecting the homeland and killing these cartel terrorists who wish to harm our country and its people.”

Hegseth said: “These vessels were known by our intelligence to be associated with illicit narcotics smuggling, were carrying narcotics, and were transiting along a known narco-trafficking transit route in the Eastern Pacific.”

However, Washington has yet to make public any concrete evidence that its targets were smuggling narcotics or posed a threat to the United States.