The US military has killed two alleged drug smugglers in a strike against a vessel in the Eastern Pacific Ocean, an attack that expands the Trump administration’s use of the military in its counter-narcotics campaign.

The strike is the first known US military operation in the Pacific since President Donald Trump started a military offensive against the drug trade that has led to at least seven strikes in the Caribbean and dramatically raised US tensions with Venezuela and Colombia.

“The vessel was known by our intelligence to be involved in illicit narcotics smuggling, was transiting along a known narco-trafficking transit route, and carrying narcotics,” Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Wednesday (local time), without providing evidence.

He posted a 30-second video on X, which appeared to show a vessel travelling in the water before exploding.

The strikes in the Caribbean have killed at least 32 people. However, the Trump administration has provided few details, including the quantity of alleged drugs the targeted vessels were carrying or what specific evidence it had to suggest they were carrying drugs.

Trump, asked about the strike in the Oval Office, said his administration had the legal authority to carry them out and that he believed each one saved American lives.

Trump also reiterated plans to strike targets on the ground in Venezuela, which would be an escalation. He said if he took that step, his administration likely would inform the US Congress.

“We’ll probably go back to Congress and explain exactly what we’re doing when we come to the land,” he said.

“We don’t have to do that, but I think … I’d like to do that.”

Legal experts have questioned why the US military is carrying out the strikes, instead of the Coast Guard, which is the main US maritime law enforcement agency, and why there haven’t been other efforts to halt the shipments before resorting to deadly strikes.

The latest strike, first reported by CBS News, comes against the backdrop of a US military buildup in the Caribbean that includes guided missile destroyers, F-35 fighter jets, a nuclear submarine and around 6500 troops.

In August, the US Coast Guard launched an operation, known as Operation Viper, to intercept drugs in the Pacific Ocean. As of October 15, it said it had seized more than 45,000 kilograms of cocaine.

It was unclear why the administration carried out a strike in this instance instead of intercepting the vessel.

Last week, Reuters was first to report that two alleged drug traffickers survived a US military strike in the Caribbean. They were rescued and brought to a US Navy warship before being repatriated to their home countries of Colombia and Ecuador.

-AAP