Pete Hegseth says 14 people were killed in new strikes on alleged drug-carrying boats in the Pacific Ocean

The U.S. military on Monday carried out three strikes on four vessels in the Eastern Pacific Ocean that were allegedly trafficking narcotics, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Tuesday.

Hegseth said in a statement posted on X that the strikes killed 14 “narco-terrorists” and there was one survivor. Mexican authorities took over responsibility for the rescue of the person who survived the strike.

Hegseth said that the boats were “operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations (DTO) trafficking narcotics in the Eastern Pacific” and said they were known to “our intelligence apparatus.”