Washington DC - Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth ordered yet another strike on a small boat in international eastern Pacific waters on Wednesday, killing four men accused with no evidence of being engaged in "narco-trafficking."

As it has done in the past, US Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) claimed on X that the boat was "transiting along a known narco-trafficking route in the Eastern Pacific and was engaged in narco-trafficking operations."

Four men were killed in the "lethal kinetic strike."

The military released a short video showing the attack, with aerial footage appearing to first show the hit and then the vessel on fire.

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Since September, President Donald Trump's administration repeatedly targeted vessels in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific that it says are carrying drugs, offering no proof for the accusations.

At the latest count, close to 100 people have been killed in operations widely condemned as unlawful and extrajudicial executions at best, "plain murder" at worst. Families of some victims – such as a Colombian fisherman – have lodged legal complaints.

Hegseth is under increasing pressure after a particularly shocking incident in which survivors of a first attack were killed in a "double tap strike" led to calls for a criminal investigation.