US forces killed 14 people in strikes that destroyed four alleged drug-smuggling boats in the eastern Pacific Ocean, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Tuesday, bringing the death toll from Washington's controversial anti-narcotics campaign to at least 57.

The United States began carrying out the strikes -- which experts say amount to extrajudicial killings even if they target known traffickers -- in early September, and has now destroyed at least 14 vessels in the Caribbean and Pacific.

In three strikes carried out Monday in international waters, 14 "narco-terrorists" were killed and one survived, Hegseth said in a post on X -- making it the deadliest day of the US campaign so far.

"The four vessels were known by our intelligence apparatus, transiting along known narco-trafficking rou

See Full Page