'We Will Track, Map, Hunt, and Kill Them': Pentagon Chief Hegseth on US Strike Against 'Narco-Terrorist' in Caribbean

After a lethal kinetic strike on a "narco-trafficking vessel operated by a Designated Terrorist Organisation (DTO) in the Caribbean," U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth announced that America will treat such groups the same way it treated Al-Qaeda — by hunting and killing them.

The statement reaffirmed the administration’s aggressive approach to combating what it calls “narco-terrorism.”

“Today, at the direction of President Trump, the Department of War carried out a lethal kinetic strike on another narco-trafficking vessel operated by a Designated Terrorist Organisation in the Caribbean,” Hegseth wrote on X.

According to him, the vessel, like “every other,” was identified by U.S. intelligence as part of a narcotics smuggling network and was moving along a known trafficking route while carrying illicit substances.

Three male narco-terrorists were aboard the vessel at the time of the strike, which took place in international waters. “All three terrorists were killed, and no U.S. forces were harmed in this strike,” Hegseth stated.

He accused the traffickers of attempting to “bring drugs to our shores to poison Americans at home — and they will not succeed,” adding that the Department of War would deal with them “exactly how we treated Al-Qaeda.”

“We will continue to track them, map them, hunt them, and kill them,” he declared.

The announcement came a day after President Donald Trump dismissed reports suggesting that the United States was preparing to conduct strikes inside Venezuela to disrupt cocaine production and trafficking routes. Trump clarified that U.S. operations would remain confined to international waters.

When asked about these reports, he said simply, “No, it’s not true.”

Last week, Secretary Hegseth ordered the U.S. Navy’s most advanced aircraft carrier strike group, the USS Gerald R. Ford, to redeploy from Europe to the Caribbean — a move widely interpreted as part of the intensified anti-narcotics campaign.

Earlier, Senator Lindsey Graham had warned that strikes on Venezuelan territory remained a “real possibility,” hinting at a potential escalation in Washington’s actions against Latin American drug networks.

In an interview with CBS News, Graham said, “President Trump told me yesterday that he plans to brief members of Congress when he gets back from Asia about future potential military operations against Venezuela and Colombia.”

Meanwhile, the U.S. has continued carrying out airstrikes on suspected drug-smuggling vessels in both the Caribbean and the Pacific.

Hegseth confirmed that one recent strike in the eastern Pacific destroyed a boat transporting narcotics, killing four individuals. This marked the 14th such strike since early September and the 15th vessel destroyed, bringing the total death toll from the campaign to at least 61.

The United Nations has called on Washington to immediately stop these attacks, condemning them as unlawful killings.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk said, “Over 60 people have reportedly been killed in a continuing series of attacks carried out by U.S. armed forces against boats in the Caribbean and the Pacific since early September, in circumstances that find no justification in international law.”

“These attacks, and their mounting human cost, are unacceptable. The U.S. must halt such operations and take all necessary measures to prevent the extrajudicial killing of people aboard these boats, whatever the criminal conduct alleged against them,” Turk concluded.

Source: ANI