US Strikes 3rd Venezuelan Drug Boat

US President Donald Trump said the US military had “knocked off” a third drug boat from Venezuela, despite the Pentagon so far only detailing two such strikes.

“Stop sending drugs into the United States,” Trump said Tuesday as he departed Washington for a trip to London. “We knocked off, actually three boats, not two, but we saw two.”

Trump did not provide additional details on the strike, but warned Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro to stop sending narcotics and criminals from his country to the US.

On Monday, Trump posted details of the second strike to social media, including a video that showed a vessel rolling in the waves in unidentified waters. After several seconds, it’s consumed by a massive fireball. Trump said the attack “resulted in three male terrorists killed in action.” He told reporters at the White House later on Monday that the US is ready to strike drug cartels on land as well as at sea.

Last month, Trump ordered a strike that the Pentagon said left 11 dead on another boat allegedly transporting drugs.

The campaign has spiked tension with Venezuela and prompted objections from some of the Latin American country’s neighbors. There was also criticism at home from legal experts and some members of Congress, who argued that the US had been under no immediate threat and the strike may not have been legal because the people on the boat were not military combatants and the US and Venezuela aren’t at war.

On Monday, Maduro called the US actions an aggression and said there was no communication between governments in Caracas and Washington.