Washington DC - The admiral who leads US Special Operations Command ordered a follow-up strike on an alleged drug boat earlier this year, the White House said Monday, defending the decision to target survivors of an initial attack.

Admiral Frank Bradley "worked well within his authority and the law directing the engagement to ensure the boat was destroyed and the threat to the United States of America was eliminated," White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told journalists.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth "authorized Admiral Bradley to conduct these kinetic strikes," she said.

The two strikes took place on September 2 – the first in what has become a months-long campaign of attacks on alleged drug-running boats that experts say amount to extrajudicial killings, even if they target known traffickers.

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US media reported last week that an initial September 2 strike left two people alive who were killed in a subsequent attack to fulfill an order from Hegseth.

President Donald Trump announced at the time that 11 alleged "narcoterrorists" were killed in "a kinetic strike."

Subsequent strikes that left survivors were followed by search-and-rescue efforts that recovered two people in one case and failed to find another later in October.

Despite the growing outrage, Hegseth has also insisted that the strikes are legal, saying in a recent post on X that the military action is "in compliance with the law of armed conflict – and approved by the best military and civilian lawyers, up and down the chain of command."