US President Donald Trump has widened America’s military campaign in international waters. The US military struck another boat in the eastern Pacific Ocean on Wednesday. Three people on board were killed.

This was the second attack in two days. Since early September, the US military has carried out nine strikes in international waters. These strikes have killed 37 people labeled by Trump as “narcoterrorists.”

So far, the Pentagon has not named those killed. It has also not shown any proof that the boats carried drugs.

US Officials Claim Boats Were Run by Terrorist Groups

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth confirmed the strike in a post on X. He wrote that the US military had “carried out yet another lethal kinetic strike on a vessel operated by a Designated Terrorist Organisation (DTO)” under Trump’s direction.

Hegseth did not name the group. He said the boat was “known by our intelligence to be involved in illicit narcotics smuggling,” and was on “a known narco-trafficking route and carrying narcotics.”

A day earlier, the US military had hit another boat in the Pacific, killing two people. The first seven strikes under this campaign took place in the Caribbean Sea since September 2.

Trump Warns of Possible Land Strikes

After the second Pacific attack, Trump suggested he might target land sites abroad. The New York Times reported that he believes the strikes at sea have forced drug traffickers to move to land routes.

Trump said he might “probably go back to Congress and explain exactly what we are doing” before striking foreign soil. But he added that he did not need Congress’s permission.

He warned, “We will hit them very hard when they come in by land. They haven’t experienced that yet, but now we are totally prepared to do that.”

Growing Concern Over Trump’s Expansion

Trump did not name any country he might target. But his military buildup near Venezuela has raised global concerns. The US has deployed thousands of troops, several warships, a submarine, and fighter planes in the Caribbean Sea.

Many believe the anti-drug campaign could be a cover for a military plan to remove Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro from power.

Legal Experts Question Trump’s Tactics

Trump insists he can order such strikes by treating suspected drug traffickers as enemy combatants. But legal experts and former officials disagree. They say his actions violate US policy and international law.

Under long-standing US rules, law enforcement agencies like the Coast Guard intercept drug smugglers in international waters. They capture suspects and bring them to the US for trial. Killing them without identification or proof breaks both US and global norms.