A US attack on a boat suspected of transporting illegal drugs has left four men dead in the eastern Pacific Ocean, US defence secretary Pete Hegseth announced on X on Wednesday.

“Earlier today, at the direction of President Trump, the Department of War carried out a lethal kinetic strike on yet another narco-trafficking vessel,” Hegseth posted.

On Monday, US strikes on suspected drug-trafficking ships in the Pacific killed 14 people, according to Hegseth.

The latest strikes, which have come at the direction of the president, mark an escalation in what the White House has cast as a campaign to stop seaborne narcotics from entering the US via both the Pacific and Caribbean.

Hegseth’s post included a video showing a vessel catching fire after being struck by US munitions.

“The Western Hemisphere is no longer a safe haven for narco-terrorists bringing drugs to our shores to poison Americans,” he wrote. “The Department of War will continue to hunt them down and eliminate them wherever they operate.”

He added that the attack took place in international waters, and that no US personnel were harmed.

At least 60 people have been killed in the strikes over the past two months, which has led to increasing tensions between the US, and the governments of both Colombia and Venezuela.

The strikes have drawn condemnation in the region and experts have questioned their legality. Members of the US Congress, both Democrats and Republicans, have also raised concerns and questioned the president’s authority to order them.

The US has been steadily building up a force of warships, fighter jets, Marines, spy planes, bombers and drones in the Caribbean, deploying the world’s largest warship, the USS Gerald R Ford.

Trump has accused Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro of being the leader of a drug-trafficking organisation, which he denies, and there are fears in Venezuela that the US military build-up is aimed at removing the long-time opponent of Trump from power.

The country’s attorney general told the BBC there is “no doubt” that Trump is trying to overthrow the Venezuelan government. He accused the US of hoping to seize the country’s natural resources, including reserves of gold, oil and copper.

The US is among many nations that do not recognise Maduro as Venezuela’s legitimate leader, after the last election in 2024 was widely dismissed as neither free nor fair. Opposition tallies from polling stations showed its candidate had won by a landslide.