The US Army Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) claimed, without providing any evidence, that the ship was involved in drug trafficking.
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Published February 21, 2026
The U.S. military says it struck a boat in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing three people, in the latest attack on ships in international waters that Washington alleges is involved in drug trafficking.
The US Southern Command (SOUTHCOM), which is responsible for military operations in Latin America and the Caribbean, said Friday’s attack killed three men and said the operation was a “lethal kinetic attack” in the Pacific region, a “known drug trafficking route.”
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No evidence has been presented to support the US military’s claim that the three victims were involved in drug trafficking.
Friday’s killings bring the death toll from U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration’s attacks on ships in the Eastern Pacific and Caribbean Sea to at least 148 people killed in about 43 attacks carried out by U.S. forces since early September.
Latin American leaders, legal experts and human rights activists have questioned the legality of the military action and accused the U.S. military of carrying out extrajudicial killings in international waters outside Washington’s jurisdiction.
Southcom released a short video clip on social media that appeared to feature the attack, showing a stationary boat with an outboard engine set adrift after being hit by U.S. artillery fire.
Southcom announced earlier this week that it had carried out three attacks on ships in the Pacific and Caribbean, killing a total of 11 people.
Ben Sole, the UN special rapporteur on human rights and counter-terrorism, said the US military’s announcement of a ship attack was tantamount to a confession to “killing civilians at sea”.
“U.S. leaders must be held accountable by U.S. or international justice,” Saul said.
Trump administration officials, including Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and Navy Adm. Frank Bradley, have come under intense scrutiny over reports that the initial attack on the ship in September 2025 also included follow-up attacks that killed survivors clinging to the boat’s wreckage.
Legal experts argued that the U.S. military committed a crime when it intentionally targeted and killed shipwreck survivors.
Critics also question why the Trump administration is targeting suspected drug trafficking at sea, when fentanyl, which is responsible for many fatal overdoses in the United States, is often smuggled into the United States by land from neighboring Mexico.
