The incident follows several strikes two days earlier in the same area, where four other boats were hit, killing 14 people and leaving one survivor. The U.S. later sought Mexico’s help to rescue the survivor, but Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said on Wednesday that the search had been unsuccessful.
These operations are part of a military campaign launched by President Trump earlier this year to disrupt suspected narcotics networks in the Pacific Ocean. While U.S. officials say the missions are based on intelligence and target drug smugglers, critics have raised concerns about the lack of public evidence and the rising number of deaths in international waters.
The Pentagon has not provided details on the identities of those killed in Wednesday’s strike or confirmed whether any narcotics were recovered from the destroyed vessel.