Hegseth says US military struck Tren de Aragua drug smuggling boat in Caribbean, killing 6

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Friday that the U.S. military overnight struck a Tren de Aragua drug smuggling boat in the Caribbean, killing six "narco-terrorists."

"At the direction of President Trump, the Department of War carried out a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel operated by Tren de Aragua (TdA), a Designated Terrorist Organization (DTO), trafficking narcotics in the Caribbean Sea," Hegseth posted on X. "The vessel was known by our intelligence to be involved in illicit narcotics smuggling, was transiting along a known narco-trafficking route, and carrying narcotics."

This is the 10th strike on a suspected drug-smuggling vessel by the military, bringing the death toll of the campaign against drug cartels to at least 46 people, according to the Associated Press.

"Six male narco-terrorists were aboard the vessel during the strike, which was conducted in international waters—and was the first strike at night. All six terrorists were killed and no U.S. forces were harmed in this strike. If you are a narco-terrorist smuggling drugs in our hemisphere, we will treat you like we treat Al-Qaeda. Day or NIGHT, we will map your networks, track your people, hunt you down, and kill you."

The strikes have been occurring more frequently as of late, with three in one week now, after initially one strike every few weeks last month. Two of this week's strikes were in the eastern Pacific, going beyond the Caribbean strikes.