ISTANBUL 

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Wednesday that the US struck another drug vessel in the Eastern Pacific as part of the Trump administration’s campaign against “narco-terrorism.”

"Earlier today, at the direction of President (Donald) Trump, the Department of War carried out a lethal kinetic strike on yet another narco-trafficking vessel operated by a Designated Terrorist Organization (DTO) in the Eastern Pacific," Hegseth wrote on the US social media company X’s platform, referring to the rebranded name for the Defense Department.

He noted that the vessel was known by US intelligence to be "involved in illicit narcotics smuggling" while "transiting along a known narco-trafficking route and carrying narcotics."

Hegseth said that four male "terrorists" who were aboard the vessel were killed during the strike, which was "conducted in international waters,” and no US forces were harmed.

"The Western Hemisphere is no longer a safe haven for narco-terrorists bringing drugs to our shores to poison Americans," he added.

The attack marks the latest US strike on suspected drug-trafficking boats as part of the Trump administration’s campaign against “narco-terrorism.”

Hegseth recently announced that his department is forming a joint task force operating in the US Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) area of responsibility to target drug trafficking organizations.