Daijiworld Media Network - Washington

Washington, Oct 28: The US military carried out three separate strikes on four vessels in the eastern Pacific Ocean that were allegedly involved in narcotics trafficking, killing 14 people and leaving one survivor, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said on X on Tuesday. He said the operations were ordered by President Donald Trump.

Hegseth said intelligence had identified the vessels as moving along known narco-trafficking routes and carrying narcotics. He detailed the casualty count by strike: eight men in the first, four in the second, and three in the third — totaling 14 fatalities and one person rescued alive. All strikes occurred in international waters, he added, and no US personnel were harmed.

US forces launched an immediate search-and-rescue effort for the lone survivor; Mexican maritime authorities later took over coordination of the rescue. Hegseth did not provide further details on the survivor’s condition or location.

The strikes are the latest actions in what the administration has described as a campaign against “narco-terrorist networks” operating in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific. Since early September, the US says its operations in the region have resulted in more than 50 deaths tied to suspected trafficking craft. Earlier operations reportedly included the destruction of boats and aircraft thought to be used for smuggling.

Hegseth framed the campaign as a shift toward confronting transnational threats nearer US shores, asserting that the networks responsible for narcotics have caused significant American casualties and “will be treated the same” as other terror threats. “We will track them, we will network them, and then, we will hunt and kill them,” he wrote.

The deployment of the USS Gerald R. Ford carrier strike group to the Caribbean — moved from the Mediterranean to waters off Venezuela — accompanies the strikes, according to Pentagon announcements. The strikes and the carrier repositioning have drawn intense domestic and international scrutiny, with lawmakers seeking more information about the legal authority for the operations, targeting protocols, and measures taken to minimize civilian harm.