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The U.S. military has taken two survivors into custody after they were rescued following a Thursday drone strike on an alleged drug-smuggling boat in the Caribbean, a Navy official told Fox News.
Two U.S. officials told The Associated Press the strike was the sixth carried out under the Trump administration as it continues targeting smuggling vessels operated by drug cartels.
The vessel was a submersible, long associated with the drug trade, which sits just below the water line. The two survivors were aboard an American warship, the official added.
It’s not immediately clear what their next destination will be.
US MILITARY DRONE STRIKE ON DRUG ‘SUBMERSIBLE’ IN CARIBBEAN LEAVES SURVIVORS, OFFICIAL CONFIRMS
President Donald Trump later confirmed the attack.
“We attacked a submarine, and that was a drug-carrying submarine built specifically for the transportation of massive amounts of drugs,” Trump said Friday while hosting the Ukrainian president at the White House.
Secretary of State Rubio did not dispute that there were survivors, but he repeatedly said details would be forthcoming.
Thursday’s incident marks the first known case of reported survivors since U.S. forces began their campaign of lethal strikes against suspected drug boats.
It was not immediately clear what would be done with the individuals. Fox News Digital has reached out to the State and War departments for comment.
The Thursday strike brings the death toll from the Trump administration’s military campaign against vessels in the region to at least 28. The operations began last month and are part of Trump’s broader effort to dismantle transnational cartels by force.
TRUMP’S WAR ON CARTELS ENTERS NEW PHASE AS EXPERTS PREDICT WHAT’S NEXT
On Friday, War Secretary Pete Hegseth announced a new counter-narcotics Joint Task Force within U.S. Southern Command.
The task force aims to “crush the cartels, stop the poison and keep America safe,” Hegseth wrote last week on X, formerly Twitter. “The message is clear: If you traffic drugs toward our shores, we will stop you cold.”
On Tuesday, Trump highlighted a separate strike that killed six suspected smugglers aboard a vessel off the coast of Venezuela.
“Venezuela is a big purveyor of drugs,” Trump told reporters later that day in the Oval Office, accusing the country of sending its “criminals” into the United States.
Fox News Digital’s Diana Stancy and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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