The US military killed four men in a strike on a suspected drug vessel in the Eastern Pacific on Wednesday, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said.
"This vessel, like all the others, was known by our intelligence to be involved in illicit narcotics smuggling, was transiting along a known narco-trafficking route, and carrying narcotics," Hegseth said in a post on X.
Hegseth's post included a 22-second video clip of a boat in water that gets struck and explodes.
Previous strikes in the Pacific
The US military killed 14 alleged drug smugglers in strikes targeting four vessels in the eastern Pacific Ocean on Monday that left one survivor, Hegseth said on Tuesday.
This comes just under a week from the US striking two vessels in the eastern Pacific Ocean last Tuesday, in an expansion of the Trump administration's use of the armed forces in its counter-narcotics campaign.
Hegseth said the military attacked a vessel in the eastern Pacific Ocean and killed two men. It was the first known US military operation in the Pacific since President Donald Trump kicked off a new offensive against the drug trade.
Hours later, Hegseth said the military had struck another vessel in the eastern Pacific on Wednesday, killing three men.
The strikes came on top of at least seven others in the Caribbean in a campaign that has raised US tensions with Venezuela and Colombia.
"The vessel was known by our intelligence to be involved in illicit narcotics smuggling, was transiting along a known narco-trafficking route, and was carrying narcotics," Hegseth said, without providing evidence, after the strike.
The strikes in the Caribbean have killed at least 32 people, but the Trump administration has provided few details, such as how many alleged drugs the targeted vessels were carrying or what specific evidence it had to suggest they were carrying drugs.