The US military on Thursday said it killed two people in a strike on a boat suspected of carrying illegal drugs in the eastern Pacific.

"Intelligence confirmed the vessel was transiting along known narco-trafficking routes in the Eastern Pacific and was engaged in narco-trafficking operations," the US Southern Command posted on X.

It added that "no US military forces were harmed" in the operation. The statement did not offer any evidence that the boat pictured was actually carrying narcotics before it was blown up in the attack. 

The strike is the second since the US kidnapped the then-Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro in a military operation on January 3 and brought him to the United States on charges that include narco-terrorism conspiracy and cocaine importation conspiracy.

Deadly strikes on boats accused of trafficking drugs

Since early September, President Donald Trump's administration has been targeting alleged smuggling boats in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific.

Thursday's strike brings the reported death toll from these operations to 128, according to official figures.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has said the campaign, officially named Operation Southern Spear, is intended to eliminate "narco-terrorists from our hemisphere" and protect the United States from "the drugs that are killing our people."

However, US authorities have not presented evidence linking the targeted vessels to drug trafficking.

Edited by: Sean Sinico