(TNND) — The U.S. military launched another strike on an alleged drug boat in the Caribbean Sea on Monday, killing two people.
U.S. Southern Command repeated previous statements by saying Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted a lethal kinetic strike on a boat operated by suspected drug traffickers along “known narco-trafficking routes.”
A video posted on social media showed the vessel moving through the water before a massive explosion struck it, causing it to erupt in flames. Officials added that no U.S. military personnel were harmed in the operation.
The Trump administration’s campaign of destroying suspected drug-trafficking vessels in Latin American waters has continued since early September, killing at least 188 people. Additional strikes have also occurred in the eastern Pacific Ocean.
Despite the war with Iran, the pace of these operations has intensified again in recent weeks, underscoring the administration’s sustained push to combat what it describes as “narcoterrorism” in the Western Hemisphere. However, the military has not presented evidence confirming that any of the targeted vessels were carrying drugs.
The campaign began alongside the largest U.S. military buildup in the region in decades and preceded the January operation that captured then–Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. He was transported to New York to face drug-trafficking charges and has pleaded not guilty.
President Donald Trump has characterized the situation as an “armed conflict” with Latin American cartels, arguing that the strikes are a necessary escalation to curb drug flows into the United States and prevent overdose deaths. Still, his administration has offered limited evidence to substantiate its claims that those killed were “narcoterrorists.”
Critics, meanwhile, have raised concerns about the legality of the strikes.
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Editor’s note: The Associated Press contributed to this article.