WASHINGTON, October 28. /TASS/. The US armed forces have destroyed four boats that could have been used to transport drugs, killing 14 suspects, Pentagon head Pete Hegseth said on X.

"A total of 14 narco-terrorists were killed during the three strikes, with one survivor. All strikes were in international waters with no U.S. forces harmed," he said, adding that Mexico took part in rescuing the surviving drug trafficking suspect.

"These narco-terrorists have killed more Americans than Al-Qaeda, and they will be treated the same. We will track them, we will network them, and then, we will hunt and kill them."

As The New York Times reported in August, US President Donald Trump secretly signed a directive to begin using military force against Latin American drug cartels. After that, significant additional units of the US army were deployed to the Caribbean. Washington later launched air strikes against boats that, according to the US government, were transporting drugs in the Caribbean Sea and the eastern Pacific Ocean.