By Diyar Guldogan
WASHINGTON (AA) - The US carried out a strike on Friday to target "a narco-trafficking vessel" off the coast of Venezuela, Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth said.
"Earlier this morning, on President (Donald) Trump's orders, I directed a lethal, kinetic strike on a narco-trafficking vessel affiliated with Designated Terrorist Organizations in the USSOUTHCOM (US Southern Command) area of responsibility.
"Four male narco-terrorists aboard the vessel were killed in the strike, and no U.S. forces were harmed in the operation," Hegseth said on the US social media company X.
The strike was conducted in international waters just off the coast of Venezuela while the vessel was transporting "substantial amounts of narcotics - headed to America to poison our people," he added.