The United States confirmed this Wednesday a new bombing as part of its military offensive against drug trafficking, this time in the Pacific Ocean, off the coast of Colombia. The attack, carried out on the night of Tuesday, October 21, was ordered by President Donald Trump and carried out by the War Department, according to its secretary, Pete Hegseth.
The official assured that the target was a vessel “operated by a designated terrorist organization” that was transporting narcotics along a maritime route identified by US intelligence. “The attack, carried out in international waters, eliminated two narco-terrorists and left no casualties among US forces,” Hegseth indicated on his X account, where he published a video of the bombing.
In his statement, Hegseth again equated drug cartels with international terrorist groups and warned that Washington will not cease its offensive.
“The narcoterrorists who seek to bring poison to our shores will find no refuge anywhere in the hemisphere. Just as Al Qaeda waged a war against our homeland, these cartels are waging a war against our border and our people. There will be no refuge or forgiveness, only justice,” the Secretary of War said.
Yesterday, at the direction of President Trump, the Department of War conducted a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel being operated by a Designated Terrorist Organization and conducting narco-trafficking in the Eastern Pacific.
The vessel was known by our intelligence to be… pic.twitter.com/BayDhUZ4Ac
—Secretary of War Pete Hegseth (@SecWar) October 22, 2025
An offensive that expands to the Pacific
Since last September 2, when Trump authorized the start of direct military operations against drug trafficking, US forces have carried out eight attacks against suspicious vessels, which until now had been concentrated in the Caribbean Sea. According to official reports, more than 30 people have died during the bombings.
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The most recent attack marks a strategic turn in the campaign, by extending the offensive towards the South American Pacific, where maritime routes converge that connect with cocaine trafficking from Colombia and Ecuador.
Sources cited by US media assure that the operation took place in international waters near the Colombian coast, although the distance or exact location of the target was not specified.
Diplomatic tensions with Colombia
The military action occurs in a context of growing tension between Washington and Bogotá. Over the weekend, Donald Trump accused President Gustavo Petro of being “a drug trafficking leader,” while in the US Congress some Republican senators are promoting sanctions against Colombian officials, including them on the so-called Clinton list.
To date, the War Department has not presented verifiable evidence confirming the nature of the destroyed target or its direct link to drug trafficking. No independent authority has been able to corroborate the identities of the deceased or the cargo that the vessel was carrying.