Hegseth said in a statement on social media that the strike was conducted at the direction of the president on a vessel allegedly affiliated with Ejército de Liberación Nacional, a militant political group in Colombia that has been designated a terrorist organization by the United States for decades.
"The vessel was known by our intelligence to be involved in illicit narcotics smuggling, was traveling along a known narco-trafficking route, and was transporting substantial amounts of narcotics," Hegseth said.
"There were three male narco-terrorists aboard the vessel during the strike -- which was conducted in international waters. All three terrorists were killed, and no U.S. forces were harmed in this strike."
Hegseth shared video of the strike, which showed the boat getting hit and erupting into smoke and flame.
With the three latest deaths, the U.S. has killed at least 32 people in strikes on alleged drug boats -- mostly against vessels off the coast of Venezuela.
The strikes have raised concerns of escalating conflict leading to war with Venezuela, according to reports.
The Trump administration has been increasing the presence of U.S. troops in the Caribbean as he considers military action inside Venezuela, while Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro has started to mobilize volunteer militias.
"We are certainly looking at land now, because we've got the sea very well under control," Trump told reporters Wednesday.
U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., filed a bipartisan bill Friday that aims to prevent the Trump administration from entering a full-throated war with Venezuela. Critics of the Trump administration's actions have expressed that only Congress can declare war.
"They had a very hard time explaining to us ... the legal rationale for doing this and the constitutionality of doing it," Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., said Sunday on CBS' "Face the Nation."
"The brief we got had a tremendous number of holes in it, and they had to go round and around to give us the legal rationale for doing this."
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