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US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered a strike on a Venezuela drug vessel, killing four.
Pete Hegseth emphasized that no US service members were injured in the latest operation.
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said he had directed a military strike on a vessel ferrying drugs from Venezuela, killing four people on board, as the Donald Trump administration pressed ahead with its campaign to treat drug traffickers as “unlawful combatants at war with the United States.”
“Our intelligence, without a doubt, confirmed that this vessel was trafficking narcotics, the people onboard were narco-terrorists, and they were operating on a known narco-trafficking transit route,” Pete Hegseth said, adding, “These strikes will continue until the attacks on the American people are over!!!!”
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Pete Hegseth emphasized that no US service members were injured in the latest operation. The Pentagon has signaled that more such strikes could follow, with officials arguing they are essential to “protect Americans from narco-terrorist threats.”
A video posted to Pete Hegseth’s account on X (formerly Twitter) showed a speedboat racing across open waters before erupting into a massive fireball.
Earlier this morning, on President Trump’s orders, I directed a lethal, kinetic strike on a narco-trafficking vessel affiliated with Designated Terrorist Organizations in the USSOUTHCOM area of responsibility. Four male narco-terrorists aboard the vessel were killed in the… pic.twitter.com/QpNPljFcGn— Secretary of War Pete Hegseth (@SecWar) October 3, 2025
The attack raises the death toll from three confirmed US strikes on alleged drug-smuggling vessels to at least 18 people.
The campaign has sparked mounting criticism at home and abroad. Legal experts and members of US Congress have accused the administration of carrying out extrajudicial killings, warning that drug-runners do not meet the definition of combatants under international law.
Donald Trump and his advisers have defended the operations as necessary, saying traditional law enforcement tools are insufficient to combat transnational drug cartels. Declaring that the US is in a “non-international armed conflict” with designated groups, Donald Trump directed the Defense Department to act under the law of armed conflict.
Washington D.C., United States of America (USA)
October 03, 2025, 23:39 IST
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