Four people were killed in a U.S. military strike Wednesday on an alleged drug-running boat in the Eastern Pacific, the Pentagon said. It marks the latest in a series of strikes dating back to early September that the U.S. has conducted on what it claims are drug-trafficking vessels in the region.

In a social media post, U.S. Southern Command, which oversees U.S. military operations in Central and South America, said Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered the "lethal kinetic strike on a vessel operated by a Designated Terrorist Organizations in international waters."

As has been the case with previous such strikes, Southern Command also posted unclassified video showing the boat as it was struck.

"Intelligence confirmed that the vessel was transiting along a known narco-trafficking route in the Eastern Pacific and was engaged in narco-trafficking operations," Southern Command said.

The victims were described as "four male narco-terrorists." The U.S. military provided no evidence to support allegations that the boat was ferrying drugs.

The U.S. military has conducted 26 strikes on alleged drug-trafficking vessels in the Eastern Pacific or Caribbean since Sept. 2, killing at least 99 people, according to the Pentagon.

In recent weeks, there has been renewed scrutiny on the strikes after the White House, following a report by The Washington Post, confirmed that in the Sept. 2 attack, the same boat was struck twice, or what has been described as a "double tap" or follow-on strike.

Two sources told CBS News that the follow-on strike killed two people who had survived the first strike and were waving overhead. A separate source familiar with the matter told CBS News that the two survivors were attempting to climb back onto the boat.

A total of 11 people were killed by both strikes on Sept. 2, according to the U.S. military.

While video of the Sept. 2 strikes has been shown to some congressional lawmakers in classified briefings, there has been a push for the Pentagon to release the video publicly. However, Hegseth, speaking Tuesday on Capitol Hill, said he would not do so.

"Of course we're not going to release a top-secret, full, unedited video of that to the general public," Hegseth told reporters.

Some lawmakers and legal experts have contended that the second strike could constitute a war crime.

The vessel strikes have been part of a pressure campaign by the Trump administration on embattled Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, whom it accuses of being involved in trafficking drugs to the U.S. and collaborating with drug cartels. Venezuela has criticized the boat strikes, and Maduro denies working with drug cartels. The Venezuelan government has accused the Trump administration of seeking regime change.

The U.S. has significantly ramped up its military presence in the Caribbean and near Latin America, and President Trump has said he will not rule out either sending troops to Venezuela or conducting land strikes there.

The U.S. military seized a sanctioned oil tanker near Venezuela last week. And on Tuesday, Mr. Trump announced he had ordered a "total and complete blockade" on all sanctioned oil tankers entering or departing Venezuela.

On Wednesday, an effort by House Democrats to force votes on two war powers resolutions that would limit the president's authority to strike Venezuela or continue conducting strikes on alleged drug-running boats failed.

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