U.S. Southern Command said Thursday that the Pentagon carried out another “lethal kinetic strike” at Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s direction on a vessel in the eastern Pacific Ocean that killed four men.

“On Dec. 4, at the direction of @SecWar Pete Hegseth, Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel in international waters operated by a Designated Terrorist Organization,” U.S. Southern Command wrote on X.

The Pentagon has repeatedly said targeted vessels are traveling along known drug routes and carrying narcotics when the United States conducts its strikes. U.S. Southern Command offered a similar explanation on Thursday, saying that intelligence “confirmed that the vessel was carrying illicit narcotics and transiting along a known narco-trafficking

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