US military kills three in strike on drug-trafficking vessel in Caribbean, Hegseth says

John McCarthyPosted oninBreaking News, Caribbean News, Military News, National News, U.S. Department of Justice

WASHINGTON (Reuters) — U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Sunday that the U.S. military conducted a lethal strike on a vessel operated by a drug trafficking organization in the Caribbean, killing three men aboard.

The operation, directed by President Donald Trump and carried out in international waters, targeted a vessel known to be carrying narcotics along a smuggling route, with no U.S. forces harmed, Hegseth said in an X post.

By REUTERS

Reporting by Bipasha Dey in Bengaluru; Editing by Jamie Freed

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles

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US carries out new strike in Caribbean, killing 3 alleged drug smugglers

John McCarthy

John F. McCarthy is a veteran journalist in the Caribbean, writing from the "Decision Space" where survival meets the surreal. His reporting steel was tempered by a lineage of legendary editors and broadcasters, including Ed Wynn Brant (The Bomb), Owen Eschenroder (Ann Arbor News), Lynelle Emanuel (BVI Beacon), and Charles Thanas (WSVI-TV). Alongside longtime colleague Kenneth C. "Casey" Clark, McCarthy has navigated the front lines of the territory’s history—from the 1997 volcanic "snow" to every major hurricane since Hugo. Known for leaning out of doorless helicopters to capture the "money shot," McCarthy now edits the V.I. Free Press, providing the essential link between the island's colonial past and its SpaceX future.