US forces have struck a second vessel alleged to be carrying drugs in the Pacific Ocean, amid an escalating US campaign against seaborne drug smuggling.
Three people were killed and no US forces were harmed in the strike on Wednesday, Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said. It comes a day after the US struck another boat in the Pacific, killing two people.
Both vessels were believed to be carrying drugs along known trafficking routes in international waters, Hegseth added.
The strikes are the eighth and ninth against suspected drug boats since 2 September - but the first in waters of the Pacific Ocean. Most US strikes have been in the Caribbean Sea.
"Today, at the direction of President Trump, the Department of War carried out yet another lethal kinetic strike on a vessel operated by a Designated Terrorist Organization," Hegseth posted on X.
