The US Southern Command said it attacked three vessels traveling in a convoy in undisclosed international waters, leaving “narco-terrorists” as survivors after they jumped overboard, according to a statement on social media.
The strikes occurred on December 30, according to the publication in X.
“Three narco-terrorists aboard the first ship died in the first confrontation,” the statement said. “The remaining narco-terrorists abandoned the other two ships, jumping overboard and distancing themselves before subsequent clashes sank their respective ships.”
The US Southern Command said it targeted three vessels traveling in a convoy in undisclosed international waters.
US Southern Command
According to a US official, at least six people survived the attacks that took place in the eastern Pacific.
The U.S. Coast Guard was notified to begin searching for survivors in a search and rescue operation, the statement said.
The US Coast Guard confirmed that a search and rescue operation was underway and that a Coat Guard C-130 aircraft had been deployed for the operation. The Coast Guard has sent a signal to other sailors to help survivors in distress.
In a statement shared with ABC News, the Coast Guard said: “On December 30, the War Department notified the U.S. Coast Guard of sailors in distress in the Pacific Ocean.”
“The United States Coast Guard is coordinating search and rescue operations with vessels in the area, and a Coast Guard C-130 aircraft is en route to provide increased search coverage,” he said.
There have been 33 attacks (and 110 people killed) in the US military campaign so far. in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific targeting suspected drug traffickers since September.
In the statement, military officials said the vessels targeted in the Dec. 30 attacks were operated by designated terrorist organizations and that intelligence confirmed the vessel “was transiting known drug trafficking routes and had transferred narcotics between the three vessels prior to the attacks.”
The US campaign against suspected ship attacks came under scrutiny last month after the Trump administration acknowledged that survivors of an initial series of attacks on a suspected drug ship on September 2 were killed in a series of subsequent attacks.
In another attack in the Caribbean in October, two survivors of an attack on a submarine suspected of carrying drugs were later returned to their home countries – Ecuador and Colombia – to be detained and prosecuted, President Donald Trump said.
On October 27, a sailor, now presumed dead, also survived the American attacks.
