"Intelligence confirmed that the vessels were transiting along known narco-trafficking routes in the Eastern Pacific and were engaged in narco-trafficking," US Southern Command said in a post on X, adding that "a total of eight male narco-terrorists were killed during these actions-three in the first vessel, two in the second and three in the third."

The post includes video footage of three separate boats floating in water before they are each hit by strikes.

Since early September, the US military under Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth has targeted alleged drug-smuggling boats in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean, destroying at least 26 vessels and killing at least 95 people.

The strikes have been accompanied by a massive US military buildup in the Caribbean that includes the world's largest aircraft carrier and a slew of other warships, with US President Trump insisting the goal is combatting narco-trafficking while Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro says he suspects it is a pretext for regime change in Caracas.

During one of the first strikes, survivors of an initial attack on a boat were killed after the US launched a second strike on the vessel, a controversial move that has generated accusations of a possible war crime.

Hegseth has maintained he did not order a second strike, instead attributing it to US Admiral Frank Bradley.