US military strike on alleged drug boat in Eastern Pacific kills two

The US military Southern Command has announced that it has carried out a kinetic strike on a vessel in the Eastern Pacific Ocean on February 9, Monday. The strike resulted in the death of two people aboard the vessel; one person is reported to be alive and is now the subject of a search and rescue operation led by the US Coast Guard. The military claimed that the boat was suspected of being involved in drug trafficking, without providing any supporting evidence.

“On Feb. 9, at the direction of #SOUTHCOM commander Gen. Francis L. Donovan, Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel operated by Designated Terrorist Organisations,” read a post by US military southern command.

The third US strike since the abduction of Maduro

These recent attacks bring the total number of attacks on alleged dug boats in the Pacific to three since the abduction of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in the early hours of January 3. According to a report by the NYT, the US has now carried out a total of 38 attacks against 39 vessels in the Pacific and Caribbean oceans since September, including the latest strike on Monday, killing at least 130 people. The recent strike on the alleged drug boat was authorised by Gen Francis L Donovan, a Marine who became the head of US SOUTHCOM last week.

Also Read: DOJ silently admits there is no drug trafficking group named Cartel de los Soles

US military strikes in the Pacific under legal scrutiny

The strikes have drawn significant scrutiny, internally and externally. Legal and military experts have called the deliberate attacking and killing of unarmed civilians in international waters illegal. This is irrespective of their alleged involvement in criminal activity. The September 2 attack, which marked the initiation of the series of “extrajudicial killings” in international waters, has drawn bipartisan scrutiny from the US Congress, specifically for the “double-tap” nature of the strikes. In late 2025, the US Congress blocked 25 per cent of the travel budget for Secretary of War Pete Hegseth until the release of the unedited footage of the September 2 strike. However, the unedited video footage has not been released yet. But as the US Congress debates the legality of the operation, the military campaign expands.