Washington. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced that the U.S. military carried out three attacks Monday in waters across the eastern Pacific against vessels suspected of transporting drugs, resulting in 14 deaths and one survivor.

Tuesday's social media announcement marks a continued escalation in the pace of attacks, which began in early September and occurred weeks apart. This was the first time multiple operations were announced in a single day.

Hegseth stated that Mexican search and rescue authorities “assumed responsibility for coordinating the rescue” of the sole survivor, but did not specify whether that person would remain in their custody or be handed over to the United States.

In an attack in early October that left two survivors, the U.S. military rescued them and later repatriated them to Colombia and Ecuador.

Hegseth posted images of the attacks on social media, showing two boats moving at high speed through the water. One is visibly loaded with a large number of packages or bundles. Both suddenly explode and burst into flames.

The third attack appears to have targeted a pair of boats floating side by side in the water. They appear to be largely empty, with at least two people moving about before an explosion engulfs both vessels.

He added that"the four boats were known to our intelligence services, traveling along known drug trafficking routes and transporting narcotics."

The death toll from the 13 attacks reported since early September is now at least 57, in what legal experts consider extrajudicial killings.