RismadarVoice Reporters, May 28, 2026
The United States military has carried out another strike on a vessel suspected of transporting drugs in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing two men, according to U.S. Southern Command.
The latest operation brings the reported death toll from similar maritime strikes since September to at least 196 people.
U.S. Southern Command said the vessel was targeted in the eastern Pacific, releasing video footage on social media showing the boat moments before it was struck by an explosion, followed by flames and smoke rising from the water.
The strike comes just a day after another attack in the same region killed one person and left two survivors, who were later transferred to the custody of the U.S. Coast Guard following a search and rescue response.
The Pentagon has not provided evidence publicly that the targeted vessels were carrying narcotics, though the Trump administration maintains that the operations are part of an ongoing campaign against Latin American drug cartels.
According to U.S. officials, the military action is aimed at disrupting drug trafficking routes linked to overdose deaths in the United States.
However, the campaign has drawn increasing scrutiny from lawmakers and legal experts, who have questioned both its legality and the lack of publicly disclosed evidence linking the destroyed vessels to drug trafficking.
The Pentagon inspector general has launched a self-initiated review to assess whether the military is following established targeting procedures, though it will not evaluate the legality of the strikes themselves.
Those procedures include multiple stages such as target identification, analysis, approval, execution, and post-strike assessment.
The Trump administration has defended the operations, insisting the United States is effectively engaged in a war against drug cartels responsible for a national drug crisis.
The maritime strikes in Latin American waters have continued since September, with officials indicating that further operations remain possible as part of the broader security strategy.
