<p>Washington: The US military has completed a "successful counter-terrorism mission" in partnership with El Salvador, a senior Pentagon official said on Monday, though the term appeared to refer to the deportation of alleged criminals.</p><p>Earlier on Monday, the State Department said that a group of alleged Venezuelan and MS-13 gang members was transported to El Salvador by the US military on Sunday night.</p><p>The term "counter terrorism" has traditionally been used in the Pentagon to classify operations that target militants in places like Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria.</p><p>The Pentagon did not specify what kind of "counter terrorism" operation it had carried out in its brief statement.</p><p>"The Department of Defense completed a successful counter-terrorism mission this weekend, in partnership with El Salvador," Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's chief of staff, Joe Kasper, said in a statement.</p>.El Salvador to house minors convicted of organised crime in adult jails.<p>The State Department in its separate statement on Monday said that 17 people who it says were foreign criminals were deported over the weekend.</p><p>The group of alleged violent criminals tied to Tren de Aragua and MS-13 was transported by the U.S. military on Sunday night, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement, adding that the deportees included murderers and rapists.</p><p>Trump, a Republican, took office in January vowing to deport millions of immigrants in the U.S. illegally as part of a wide-ranging immigration crackdown. Earlier this month, Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act, an 18th-century law that historically has been used only in wartime, to target alleged members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua.</p>
<p>Washington: The US military has completed a "successful counter-terrorism mission" in partnership with El Salvador, a senior Pentagon official said on Monday, though the term appeared to refer to the deportation of alleged criminals.</p><p>Earlier on Monday, the State Department said that a group of alleged Venezuelan and MS-13 gang members was transported to El Salvador by the US military on Sunday night.</p><p>The term "counter terrorism" has traditionally been used in the Pentagon to classify operations that target militants in places like Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria.</p><p>The Pentagon did not specify what kind of "counter terrorism" operation it had carried out in its brief statement.</p><p>"The Department of Defense completed a successful counter-terrorism mission this weekend, in partnership with El Salvador," Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's chief of staff, Joe Kasper, said in a statement.</p>.El Salvador to house minors convicted of organised crime in adult jails.<p>The State Department in its separate statement on Monday said that 17 people who it says were foreign criminals were deported over the weekend.</p><p>The group of alleged violent criminals tied to Tren de Aragua and MS-13 was transported by the U.S. military on Sunday night, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement, adding that the deportees included murderers and rapists.</p><p>Trump, a Republican, took office in January vowing to deport millions of immigrants in the U.S. illegally as part of a wide-ranging immigration crackdown. Earlier this month, Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act, an 18th-century law that historically has been used only in wartime, to target alleged members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua.</p>