U.S. Army Secretary Pete Hegseth said the attack destroyed what he described as a “drug-trafficking vessel” operated by a “designated terrorist organization.”
According to the Guardian, he released a video of the attack on X, which he claimed took place in international waters.
No U.S. military personnel were injured, Hegseth said.
“To all the narco-terrorists who threaten our homeland: If you want to live, stop drug trafficking,” he wrote.
The attack marks at least the 18th ship destroyed since early September, when the Trump administration began targeting ships in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific Ocean.
So far, 17 boats and a semi-submarine have been damaged, and the reported death toll is at least 70.
The U.S. government has yet to release evidence proving the destroyed vessel was smuggling drugs or posed an imminent threat to the United States.
Critics, including international law experts, say the attack amounted to extrajudicial killings disguised as a counter-drug operation.
According to the families of the deceased, many of the dead were civilians, most of them fishermen.
President Donald Trump’s administration has ramped up its military presence in the region, deploying six Navy ships in the Caribbean, deploying F-35 stealth jets to Puerto Rico and deploying the aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group nearby.
Master’s degree/PR