U.S. military says 2 killed in eastern Pacific boat strike, with 1 survivor

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth speaks at Mar-a-Lago, Saturday, Jan. 3, 2026, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

The U.S. military conducted a strike against another alleged drug-trafficking boat in the eastern Pacific Ocean on Friday, killing two people with one survivor,, according to U.S. Southern Command.

One individual survived the strike, and SOUTHCOM said it notified the U.S. Coast Guard to activate a search and rescue mission for the survivor

“On Jan. 23, at the direction of @SecWar Pete Hegseth, Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations,” SOUTHCOM wrote on X.

The Coast Guard told CNN in a statement it was notified by SOUTHCOM and is coordinating search and rescue operations for the survivor.

At least 115 people have now been killed in strikes on suspected drug boats as part of a campaign, dubbed Operation Southern Spear, that the Trump administration has said is aimed at curtailing narcotics trafficking.

The pace of U.S. strikes has slowed so far this year. The military most recently struck two boats on Dec. 31, killing five.

Friday’s attack marks the first known strike against alleged drug-trafficking boats since the U.S. military operation that captured Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro from Caracas and brought him to New York to face criminal charges. Maduro pleaded not guilty to the charges earlier this month.

Publicly, U.S. officials have said the goal of the boat strikes and a military buildup in the Caribbean is to stop the flow of drugs into the U.S., but Trump administration officials previously acknowledged in private that the U.S. pressure campaign had been aimed at ousting Maduro.