The U.S. military killed two alleged drug smugglers in a strike against a vessel in the Eastern Pacific Ocean, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Wednesday, an attack that expands the use of the military by the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump in its counter-narcotics campaign.
The strike is the first known U.S. military operation in the Pacific since Trump started a new military offensive against the drug trade that has led to at least seven strikes in the Caribbean and dramatically raised U.S. tensions with Venezuela and Colombia.
"The vessel was known by our intelligence to be involved in illicit narcotics smuggling, was transiting along a known narco-trafficking transit route, and carrying narcotics," Hegseth said, without providing evidence.
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