THIS is the dramatic moment the US bombed an alleged drug-trafficking boat in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing two people.
Footage shared by the US Southern Command on X shows the lethal strike being unleashed on the small motor vessel.
The boat can be seen speeding through the water before the explosion.
Citing intelligence, the US Southern Command said the vessel had been “engaged in narco-trafficking operations” and had been transiting along the known routes.
One person is believed to have survived the attack, and the Coast Guard has launched a search and rescue operation for them.
This is the first known US attack since the large-scale strikes on Caracas that led to the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife earlier this month.
With the latest military action, there have been 36 known strikes against alleged drug smuggling boats in South American waters since early September.
At least 117 people have now been killed, according to announcements from the military.
Donald Trump has repeatedly stressed that the assaults are having a huge impact on slowing the trafficking routes in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific.
“We’ve stopped – virtually stopped almost 100 percent of all drugs coming in by water,” the US President said in remarks on Wednesday at the World Economic Forum at Davos.
The US military most recently struck two boats on December 31, killing five people.
Operation Southern Spear was unveiled by Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth just weeks after the Trump administration warned that the US is engaged in an “armed conflict” with drug cartels.
At the time, it argued that the cartels’ actions are “an armed attack” on the country.
The Caribbean has long served as a major transit corridor – for cocaine, heroin and marijuana – moving from South America to the US and Europe.
The US government estimates that about a third of all cocaine entering its borders passes through the Caribbean.
