US strikes three more alleged drug boats in eastern Pacific, killing 8

U.S. forces killed eight alleged drug smugglers in three separate boat strikes in the eastern Pacific Ocean on Monday, raising the death toll in the Trump administration’s counternarcotics campaign to at least 95.

The strikes occurred in separate locations along what U.S. Southern Command said were “known narco-trafficking routes.” The first strike killed three men, the second killed two men, and the third strike also killed three.

In videos released by U.S. Southern Command on the social media platform X, the three boats are blown up in fiery explosions. The first was idling, and the other two were moving at a fast rate when they were struck.

The strikes occurred as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and other top military and administration officials are expected to brief the House and Senate this week amid ongoing fallout from a report by The Washington Post on how U.S. forces struck the same suspected drug smuggling boat twice in September, killing two survivors of the initial strike.

That revelation has led some lawmakers to question whether the officer leading the operation violated the law of armed conflict by striking “shipwrecked” survivors, or enemies who were out of the fight.

In its annual defense bill, Congress plans to withhold 25% of Hegseth’s travel budget until he releases the full videos and other materials related to the boat strikes. The legislation has already passed the House and is likely to advance in the Senate on Tuesday. President Donald Trump is expected to sign it into law.

Hegseth’s and Rubio’s appearance on Capitol Hill will mark the administration’s most comprehensive effort to date to brief lawmakers. Two weeks ago, Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Adm. Frank M. Bradley, who oversees U.S. Special Operations Command, appeared before top Republican and Democratic committee leadership to discuss the Sept. 2 strike.

The strikes and massive military buildup of more than a dozen U.S. warships in the region have raised questions about whether the United States will expand its operations against what it says are Venezuelan cartels into possible military action in Venezuela. The buildup appears to be a pressure campaign to unseat Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, who Trump has alleged directs traffickers and criminals to assault the U.S.

Trump has said that Maduro’s “days are numbered.”