US military launches first known drug boat strike in months, killing 2 'narco-terrorists'

The U.S. military launched its first known strike on an alleged drug boat in two months off the coast of Latin America on Sunday, killing two "narco-terrorists" in the eastern Pacific.

The U.S. Southern Command (Southcom) said early Monday the "low-profile" vessel operated along "established narco-trafficking routes" in the eastern Pacific and intelligence "confirmed" the boat's involvement in "narco-trafficking."

"We are committed to imposing total systemic friction on narco-terrorists -- disrupting their operations, dismantling their leadership and eliminating cartel terror across the region," Southcom Commander Gen. Francis L. Donovan said.

The U.S. military began the lethal boat strike campaign in early September last year, targeting alleged drug-trafficking boats in both the Caribbean and eastern Pacific Ocean.

The Sunday attack was the first publicly disclosed strike since June 21, when the U.S. military said it killed eight "narco-terrorists" in the Caribbean. Since Sept. 2 last year, the military has conducted a minimum of 67 strikes and killed at least 223 "narco-terrorists."

Top U.S. officials have said the campaign is waged in part to cut off the flow of illicit drugs in the region. Law-of-war experts have panned the attacks as illegal extrajudicial killings.

Earlier this month, Southcom announced a new military unit, dubbed Joint Task Force Western Hemisphere, intended to broaden the Pentagon's war against drugs on the continent in collaboration with partners and allies in the region.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth addressed the U.S.-led countercartel coalition in Panama earlier this month, as the Pentagon ramps up its fight against drug cartels in Central and South America.

The Pentagon chief said the motto for the coalition, which Colombia and Honduras recently joined, will be, "We do bad things to bad people."