US kills 4 alleged drug smugglers on boat in Caribbean, bringing total to 227 in 68 strikes

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U.S. Southern Command announced another strike on “narco-terrorists,” killing four in the Caribbean, bringing the roughly one-year totals to at least 227 dead among the 68 reported strikes, including back-to-back days after months of calm in the area.

“On August 25, under Gen. Donovan’s direction, Joint Task Force Western Hemisphere executed a lethal kinetic strike on a go-fast vessel operating along established narco-trafficking routes in the Caribbean,” SOUTHCOM wrote in a Tuesday night X post. “Confirmed intelligence revealed the vessel’s active involvement in narco-trafficking. The operation killed four narco-terrorists.”

Since September, President Donald Trump’s administration has been striking suspected cartel vessels in the Atlantic and Pacific that it accuses of transporting narcotics.

US KILLS TWO ‘NARCO-TERRORISTS’ IN STRIKE 2 MONTHS SINCE LAST ANNOUNCED ANTI-‘NARCO-TRAFFICKING’ ATTACK

“Joint Task Force Western Hemisphere continues executing precise, lethal operations against the cartels,” SOUTHCOM Commander Gen. Francis L. Donovan said in a statement quoted in the X post. “We will hunt, disrupt, and defeat these narco-terrorist networks.

“SOUTHCOM is resolved to neutralizing cartel terror and violence throughout the region and into the U.S. homeland.”

The U.S. military said Monday two were killed in a strike it launched on a vessel in the Eastern Pacific over the weekend. That strike marked the first in more than two months.

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The video posted on X showed an image of what appeared to be a moving boat followed by a flash.

The Associated Press reports that this makes at least 227 total deaths from such strikes.

The Trump administration is pursuing deals with allied nations to extend its offensive to land across multiple Latin American countries. War Secretary Pete Hegseth said during a visit to Panama this month that Colombia, Guatemala and Honduras had agreed to allow the U.S. to carry out joint military operations against criminal groups on their soil.

Guatemala denied reaching such a deal. Ecuador launched similar missions with the U.S. in March.

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Trump has said the U.S. is in “armed conflict” with cartels in Latin America and has justified the attacks as a necessary escalation to stem the flow of drugs into the United States and fatal overdoses claiming American lives.

Reuters and AP contributed to this report.

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