THE US military attacked a boat accused of smuggling drugs in the eastern Pacific Ocean on Wednesday, killing two men.

It’s the latest in a long line of illegal US attacks in international waters against alleged traffickers in Latin America.

The attack brings the number of people who have been killed in boat strikes by the US military to at least 207 since the administration began targeting those it calls “narcoterrorists” in early September.

As with most of the military’s statements on strikes in the eastern Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea, US Southern Command said that it targeted the alleged drug traffickers along supposed smuggling routes. 

The military did not provide evidence that the vessel was ferrying drugs. 

President Donald Trump has said that the US is in “armed conflict” with cartels in Latin America and has justified the attacks as a necessary escalation to stem the flow of drugs into the United States and fatal overdoses claiming the lives of US citizens. 

But his administration has offered little evidence to support its claims of killing “narcoterrorists.”

Critics have questioned the overall legality of the boat strikes as well as their effectiveness, in part because the fentanyl behind many fatal overdoses is typically trafficked to the US over land from Mexico.

The US military’s first strike in early September sparked international condemnation.

Two men on the boat initially survived the attack that killed nine others, and they were clinging to the wreckage when the vessel was struck again, killing them. 

The White House confirmed the follow-up strike, insisting it was done “in self-defence” to ensure the boat was destroyed and in accordance with the laws of armed conflict. 

But some legal scholars said a second strike killing survivors would have been illegal under any circumstance, armed conflict or not.