US Strikes Another Boat Allegedly Carrying Drugs Near Venezuela, 6 Killed: Trump

Last Updated:October 15, 2025, 02:15 IST

President Trump ordered a lethal strike on a drug trafficking vessel off Venezuela, killing six. The US claims the boat was linked to a Designated Terrorist Organization.

US President Donald Trump. (Image: X/@WhiteHouse)

President Donald Trump on Tuesday said the US has hit a small boat that he accused of carrying drugs in waters off the coast of Venezuela. The incident killed six people.

In a post on Truth Social, Trump said: “Under my Standing Authorities as Commander-in-Chief, this morning, the Secretary of War, ordered a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel affiliated with a Designated Terrorist Organization (DTO) conducting narcotrafficking in the USSOUTHCOM area of responsibility — just off the Coast of Venezuela."

“Intelligence confirmed the vessel was trafficking narcotics, was associated with illicit narcoterrorist networks, and was transiting along a known DTO route. The strike was conducted in International Waters, and six male narcoterrorists aboard the vessel were killed in the strike. No U.S. Forces were harmed," he further said.

He also shared a 33-second video footage of the strike. However, unlike previous announcement he did not identify the nationality of the people who were killed or name a specific drug cartel or criminal gang with which they were supposedly associated.

According to New York Times, the Trump administration has asserted that killing suspected drug smugglers — rather than having the Coast Guard interdict boats and arrest people aboard them if suspicions of drug smuggling proved accurate — is consistent with the laws of war.

This was US’s fifth strike in the Caribbean since September. Recently, New York Times quoted a memo from an internal Trump administration as stating that Trump has deemed cartels engaged in drug smuggling as “non-state armed groups" whose actions “constitute an armed attack against the United States".

News world US Strikes Another Boat Allegedly Carrying Drugs Near Venezuela, 6 Killed: Trump

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