WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — US forces on Wednesday carried out a strike on a vessel it said was engaged in drug trafficking in the Pacific Ocean, killing four “narco-terrorists,” the US Southern Command announced.

The US military “conducted a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel operated by a Designated Terrorist Organization” in the Eastern Pacific which was engaged in “narco-trafficking operations,” the Southern Command said on X. 

“A total of four male narco-terrorists were killed, and no US military forces were harmed,” it added.

The latest strike brings the death toll up to 99 since the US began in September striking alleged drug-trafficking boats in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean. 

US President Donald Trump has also overseen a major military deployment off the coast of Venezuela, and this week declared a blockade of “sanctioned oil vessels” to and from Caracas.

The moves add growing pressure to Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, who claims the US campaign seeks regime change instead of its stated goal of stopping drug trafficking.