The US military said it killed three alleged drug traffickers in a Caribbean strike, raising the death toll in Washington’s anti-narcotics campaign to at least 133
The US military on Friday reported it had killed three alleged drug traffickers in a strike on a boat in the Caribbean Sea, bringing the death toll in Washington’s anti-narcotics campaign to at least 133, according to US Southern Command.
“Three narco-terrorists were killed during this action. No US military forces were harmed,” Southern Command said in a statement on X.
On Feb. 13, 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 Organizations. Intelligence confirmed the vessel was transiting along known… pic.twitter.com/y50Pbtexfi
— U.S. Southern Command (@Southcom) February 14, 2026
Ongoing anti-narcotics campaign
The campaign of strikes on
smuggling vessels began in early September under President Donald Trump’s administration, which labelled the operations as part of a conflict against alleged “narco-terrorists” operating out of Venezuela.
Dozens of similar strikes have taken place since then, extending from the Caribbean to the eastern Pacific Ocean.
Administration officials have not provided definitive evidence that the vessels targeted were involved in drug trafficking, and critics have raised questions about the legality of the operations.
In another incident earlier on Monday, the US military said that it killed two people in its strike against an alleged drug-smuggling boat in the eastern Pacific.
“Two narco-terrorists were killed and one survived the strike,” the command said in a post on the social media platform X, adding that the US Coast Guard had been informed to activate search and rescue operations for the survivor.
These strikes follow the capture by US special forces of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro nearly six weeks earlier. Maduro, who had said the military campaign was aimed at regime change in his country, is now incarcerated in the US and has pleaded not guilty to drug and weapons charges.
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