US forces launched a strike that killed three alleged drug traffickers in a boat in the eastern Pacific, the military said on Friday.

"Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations" along an apparent narco-trafficking route, the US Southern Command posted on X, adding that "three male narco-terrorists were killed during this action."

A video linked to the post shows a boat floating motionlessly in the water before bursting into flames.

Fighting drug trafficking or extrajudicial killing?

The US military began targeting what it has claimed are drug smuggling boats in early September, killing at least 148 people in at least 43 attacks. There have been six known attacks on boats this year.

Under President Donald Trump, the United States has conducted the strikes without offering evidence of illegal activity, leading legal experts to raise concerns that the deaths could be considered extrajudicial killings.

The Trump administration has insisted the strikes are needed to combat drug trafficking.

Before the current military mission destroying small vessels in the eastern Pacific and Caribbean Sea, the US Coast Guard and police were responsible for fighting illegal drug smuggling. Suspects taken into custody were treated as criminals not terrorists.

The Coast Guard still stops suspected drug-trafficking boats in the eastern Pacific without using lethal force.

Edited by: Kieran Burke