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WASHINGTON — <\/span>U.S. military forces struck a vessel Wednesday in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing three men the Pentagon says were trafficking drugs. <\/p>\n No U.S. personnel were harmed, the U.S. Southern Command said in a social media post.<\/p>\n Several such strikes have been announced<\/a> in recent days as the Trump administration continues its aggressive anti-cartel actions in international waters. At least 178 people have been killed in the strikes since the effort began in early September, months before the U.S. raid in January that captured then-Venezuelan President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro<\/a>. <\/p>\n The Southern Command described the attack Wednesday as a \u201clethal kinetic strike on a vessel operated by a Designated Terrorist Organization.” It said the vessel was transiting along “known narco-trafficking routes in the Eastern Pacific.<\/p>\n The announcement did not name the organization or the three men killed in the strike or offer a more precise location. Nor did it provide evidence of the men’s ties to drug trafficking.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n