WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. military said Monday that it had conductedanother strike against a boataccused of smuggling drugs in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing two people.
The strike, which was announced by U.S. Southern Command on social media, has broughtthe total number of known boat strikesto 30 and the number of people killed at least 107 since early September, according to numbers announced by the Trump administration.
The military said the vessel "was engaged in narco-trafficking operations," though it did not provide evidence to back up the claim.
In a video of the strike posted to social media, a boat is seen moving through water before being struck by two explosions.
President Donald Trump hasjustified the attacksas a necessary escalation to stem the flow of drugs into the United States and asserted that the U.S. is engaged in an"armed conflict" with drug cartels.
Along with the strikes, the Trump administration has built up military forces in the region as part of an escalating pressure campaign on Venezuelan PresidentNicolás Maduro, who has been charged with narcoterrorism in the United States.
Trump, when asked by reporters Monday about "an explosion in Venezuela," said the U.S. had "hit" a dock facility along a shore where boats accused of carrying drugs "load up."
"There was a major explosion in the dock area where they load the boats up with drugs," Trump said while meetingwith Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Florida. Trump, the White House and the Pentagon have provided no other details.
In December, the Trump administration also launched a new tactic byseizing two sanctioned oil tankersoff the coast of Venezuela andpursuing a third. As a result, some sanctionedtankers began to divertaway from the South American country.
Maduro has insisted the real purpose of the U.S. operations is to force him from power. Trumpfor months has suggestedthat he may conduct land strikes in Venezuela or possibly another country.
The Trump administration has been facedscrutiny from lawmakersover the boat strike campaign. It grew amid revelations that the first attack in early September involveda follow-up strike that killed two survivorsclinging to the wreckage of a boat after the first hit.