The US military launched strikes on three alleged drug boats on Monday, February 16, killing 11 people in the operation.  According to the officials, of the 11 "male narco-terrorists" killed, four died on the first vessel in the Eastern Pacific, four on a second vessel also in the Eastern Pacific and three on a third vessel in the Caribbean.

The US Southern Command said in a social media post: "Intelligence confirmed the vessels were transiting along known narco-trafficking routes and were engaged in narco-trafficking operations." During the operation conducted late on Monday night, no US military person were injured. 

Over 40 lethal strikes have been carried out by the Trump administration on alleged drug boats in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean since September. US forces have been targeting vessels they suspect of smuggling narcotics through the Caribbean and eastern Pacific since September.

However, the pace of strikes has declined sharply since early January, when US. forces captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, whom the Trump administration accuses of cooperating with drug‑trafficking networks.

Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth has said the overall operation is aimed at removing "narco-terrorists from our hemisphere" and securing the US from "the drugs that are killing our people".