The U.S. military under Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth attacked a suspected drug boat Wednesday in the eastern Pacific, killing two people. Photo by Kyle Mazza /UPI | License Photo
May 27 (UPI) -- The U.S. military killed two men in a "lethal kinetic strike" of a suspected drug trafficking boat in the eastern Pacific on Wednesday, U.S. Southern Command said, its second fatal strike in two days.
Wednesday's attack was the 59th of the monthslong anti-drug smuggling campaign, which now has a death toll of at least 196 people killed, though the status of two survivors from Tuesday's strike was unknown. UPI has contacted the U.S. Coast Guard for comment on its search-and-rescue operation.
As with the previous strikes, little information was made public.
SOUTHCOM said in a statement that the vessel was "transiting along known narco-trafficking routes in the Eastern Pacific and was engaged in narco-trafficking operations."
