US strike on alleged drug boat in Pacific kills two

Two people were killed and one survived in the latest attack by the US military on an alleged drug-smuggling boat in the eastern Pacific Ocean.

Video released Friday by U.S. Southern Command shows a black, boat-shaped image before the explosion, followed by a column of fire rising from the ocean.

Southern Command said it “immediately notified the U.S. Coast Guard to activate the Search and Rescue system for survivors.”

President Donald Trump has signed a new U.S. counterterrorism strategy that identifies dismantling drug cartels in the Western Hemisphere as the administration’s top priority, the White House announced Wednesday.

The Trump administration’s campaign to blow up ships allegedly smuggling drugs in Latin American waters, including the Eastern Pacific and the Caribbean Sea, has continued since early September and has led to the deaths of at least 193 people.

The military did not provide evidence that any of the ships were carrying drugs. Strikes have increased again in recent weeks.

At the same time, Trump has sought to pressure regional leaders to work more closely with the United States to target cartels and take military action against drug traffickers and transnational gangs that he says pose an “unacceptable threat” to the hemisphere’s national security.

Critics, meanwhile, have questioned the legality of boat attacks in general.