Oct. 29 (UPI) -- The U.S. military on Wednesday attacked another alleged drug-trafficking boat in the Eastern Pacific, killing four people in the strike, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said.
The attack was announced by Hegseth on social media. With the strike, the United States has conducted at least 14 attacks on purported drug-trafficking vessels in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean since early September. The United States has killed more than 60 people in the strikes.
Until the first strike on Sept. 2, the United States had never used the military's lethal force to combat drug trafficking.
The Trump administration has defended the strikes as necessary to protect Americans from drugs, asserting that they comply with laws pertaining to "armed conflict."
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