EASTERN PACIFIC — Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted two lethal strikes on two vessels in the eastern Pacific on April 11, killing five people and leaving one survivor, according to a U.S. Southern Command statement. The strikes were carried out at the direction of Southern Command commander Gen. Francis L. Donovan and targeted vessels the military said were operated by designated terrorist organizations.

"Two male narco-terrorists were killed, and one narco-terrorist survived the first strike. Three male narco-terrorists were killed during the second strike," Southern Command said. Following the strikes, Southern Command notified the U.S. Coast Guard to launch a search and rescue mission for the survivor. There was no immediate update on the status of that search.

The April 11 strikes brought the campaign's total death toll to at least 168 since the U.S. military began striking alleged drug trafficking boats in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean in September 2025. The Trump administration has said the strikes are necessary to combat narcotics trafficking, has labeled the alleged drug smugglers as "unlawful combatants," and has told Congress that the U.S. is embroiled in a "non-international armed conflict" with drug cartels.

In at least six instances since September 2025, people have survived U.S. military strikes on alleged drug trafficking boats. Survivors prompted search and rescue efforts in most cases, though authorities have called off several of those operations. In October 2025, two survivors of a strike were picked up by a Navy helicopter and repatriated to their home countries of Ecuador and Colombia. On September 2, during the first boat strike of the campaign, two people survived an initial strike but were killed in a follow-on attack.

The families of two Trinidadian men killed in a U.S. missile strike on a boat in the Caribbean filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration earlier this year, arguing that the killings lacked any plausible legal justification.