‘We will kill you’: Hegseth’s warning after new US strike on alleged drug boat

US forces on Thursday struck another alleged drug trafficking boat in the Caribbean, killing three people, Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth said, bringing the death toll from Washington’s controversial anti-narcotics campaign to at least 70.

The United States began carrying out such strikes – which experts say amount to extrajudicial killings even if they target known traffickers – in early September, taking aim at vessels in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific.

The US strikes have destroyed at least 18 vessels so far – 17 boats and a semi-submersible – but Washington has yet to make public any concrete evidence that its targets were smuggling narcotics or posed a threat to the United States.

Hegseth released aerial footage on X of the latest strike, which he said took place in international waters like the previous strikes and targeted “a vessel operated by a Designated Terrorist Organization”.

The video showed a boat travelling through the water before exploding into flames.

“Three male narco-terrorists – who were aboard the vessel – were killed,” Hegseth said, without any further identifying information.