US strike on alleged drug smuggling boat kills 3 in eastern Pacific

The US military obliterated a boat accused of ferrying drugs in the eastern Pacific Ocean on Saturday — killing three men in the fourth strike of the week.

A wild video posted by the US Southern Command on social media showed the moment the military carried out the lethal kinetic strike and exploded the vessel into a massive fireball.

Three men accused of smuggling drugs were killed in a lethal kinetic strike in the Eastern Pacific on Saturday. U.S. Southern Command

The boat was allegedly transiting along “known narco-trafficking routes in the Eastern Pacific,” and operated by a “Designated Terrorist Organization,” the Southern Command said in a statement.

Three men were killed in the operation, military officials said. The attack marked the fourth blast targeting suspected drug smugglers this week, following strikes on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday.

Gen. Francis L. Donovan, the top US commander in Latin America, directed the strike, authorities added.

The attack raised the death toll of the US military’s monthslong campaign against alleged drug smuggling boats in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific to 205.

Gen. Francis L. Donovan, the top US commander in Latin America, directed the strike. U.S. Southern Command

The attacks began in September as the US built up a massive military presence in the region ahead of the January raid that captured now-ousted Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro.

No US military members were harmed in Saturday’s operation, officials confirmed.

With Post wires