2 killed in U.S. attack on alleged drug boat in eastern Pacific

WASHINGTON, Dec. 29 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. military on Monday destroyed a boat suspected of transporting drugs in international waters in the eastern Pacific, killing two men aboard, the U.S. Southern Command said.

At the direction of the U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, the U.S. Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted "a lethal kinetic strike" on the vessel operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations in international waters, the command said in a post on the social platform X.

"Intelligence confirmed the vessel was transiting along known narco-trafficking routes in the Eastern Pacific and was engaged in narco-trafficking operations. Two male narco-terrorists were killed. No U.S. military forces were harmed," the command added.

As of Monday, the Pentagon has sunk 30 alleged drug vessels in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific Ocean since early September, killing at least 107 people aboard.

For months, the United States has maintained a significant military presence in the Caribbean, much of it off Venezuela's coast, purportedly to combat drug trafficking -- a claim Venezuela has denounced as a thinly veiled attempt to bring about government change in Caracas. Enditem