WASHINGTON - The US military on Tuesday sank its eighth alleged drug-trafficking vessel in international waters, the first such strike in the Pacific, killing two people aboard, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Wednesday.

"Yesterday, at the direction of President Trump, the Department of War conducted a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel being operated by a Designated Terrorist Organization and conducting narco-trafficking in the Eastern Pacific," he wrote on X.

Hegseth accused the vessel of carrying narcotics and transiting along a known drug-trafficking transit route.

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"Just as Al Qaeda waged war on our homeland, these cartels are waging war on our border and our people. There will be no refuge or forgiveness -- only justice," he wrote, calling the killed "narco-terrorists" but offering no evidence or group name.

Hegseth said the strike was conducted in international waters. The New York Times reported it happened near Colombia's Pacific coast.

The Pentagon launched seven previous operations in the southern Caribbean international waters from September, mainly against boats accused of trafficking drugs from Venezuela to the US.

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The total death toll from recent US attacks on alleged drug-trafficking vessels has risen to at least 34 as of Wednesday.

Relations between the US and Colombia have worsened recently. Earlier this month, Colombian President Gustavo Petro accused US President Donald Trump's administration of "murder" for killing drug suspects at sea. Trump responded by cutting US aid to Colombia while threatening to impose new tariffs on the South American country.