US conducts 3 strikes on suspected drug boats in eastern Pacific, 14 killed

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced that the US military carried out three strikes Monday in the waters of the Eastern Pacific against boats suspected of carrying drugs, killing 14 and leaving one survivor, reports AP.

The announcement made on social media Tuesday, marks a continued escalation in the pace of the strikes, which began in early September spaced weeks apart.

This was the first time multiple strikes were announced in a single day.

Hegseth said Mexican search and rescue authorities “assumed responsibility for coordinating the rescue” of the sole survivor but didn’t say if that person would stay in their custody or be handed over to the US

In a strike earlier in October which had two survivors, the US military rescued the pair and later repatriated them to Colombia and Ecuador.