THIS is the shocking moment Donald Trump blasts a drug-filled vessel and kills three “narco-terrorists”.
The strike comes just days after the US bombed a narco-smuggling submarine – as the country continues to wage war on drugs.
Footage posted by Secretary of War Pete Hegseth shows the boat careering through the ocean.
A massive blast erupts from the water as a precision weapon strikes the vessel.
Moments later, it is engulfed in flames and a thick cloud of smoke before being totally incinerated.
Hegseth said Friday’s strike targeted a vessel linked to Colombia‘s ELN guerrilla group – a prominent drug cartel he likened to the “Al-Qaeda of the Western Hemisphere”.
He said the vessel was travelling along a “known narco-trafficking route” and was carrying “substantial” amounts of drugs.
Three “narco-terrorists” aboard the ship were killed in the blast, he added.
Hegseth didn’t specify where the strike took place, but said the boat was operating in an area overseen by the Southern Command, which oversees US military operations in Latin America.
The operation comes just days after the US blasted a drug-smuggling submarine off the coast of Venezuela.
Trump celebrated the operation online and said it was a “great honour” to destroy the sub, which was apparently “loaded up with mostly fentanyl”.
Trump this week announced he would deploy 10,000 US troops, nuclear-capable bombers, and America’s most elite special operations unit — the “Night Stalkers” — to the waters off Venezuela.
He is taking the fight to the all-powerful drug cartels, who he claims are backed by Venezuela’s dictator Nicolas Maduro.
The Caribbean is now bracing for its most explosive showdown in decades as Maduro whips his country into a war footing and vows to repel any US attack.
In a dramatic escalation, three B-52 bombers — the same heavy bombers used in Iraq and Syria — flew for hours off Venezuela’s coast this week.
Meanwhile, MH-6 Little Birds and MH-60 Black Hawks from the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, known as the Night Stalkers, carried out low-level flights just 90 miles from Venezuelan territory.
The storied unit, famed for the raid that killed Osama bin Laden, specialises in lighting-fast, low-altitude night missions and often carries Green Berets, Navy SEALs and Delta Force operators into battle.
Most of the American force is based in Puerto Rico, with about 2,200 Marines stationed on amphibious assault ships.
The Pentagon has also deployed F-35B stealth fighters, P-8 Poseidon spy planes, and MQ-9 Reaper drones to the region.
Venezuela’s dictator Nicolas Maduro has sent a stern response to Washington as he fumed the US wants to oust him and install a “puppet government”.
Maduro stared down Donald Trump’s declaration of war against the cartels, which the President insists are “poisoning” Americans with fentanyl and other drugs.
Trump has accused tyrannical Maduro of being in bed with the “terrorist” narco-cartels – and he has given himself the right to eliminate their members without trial.
Reports say the US is gearing up to seize ports and airfields in Venezuela.
Source : https://www.the-sun.com/news/15369486/trump-bombs-narco-killed/