WASHINGTON

President Donald Trump said Tuesday that American forces struck a third boat allegedly smuggling drugs to the US, the latest in a series of attacks that have raised questions over their legality.

"We knocked off, actually three boats, not two, but you saw two," Trump told reporters at the White House, referring to videos of earlier strikes he posted on social media purporting to show the US striking drug traffickers on boats that he said were bound for the US.

Asked what his message to Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is, Trump said: "Right away, stop sending Tren de Aragua into the United States. Stop sending drugs into the United States."

He was referring to a previously little-known transnational criminal organization that he has designated as a foreign terrorist group and accused of being a front for Caracas.

The allegation is at odds with the assessment from US intelligence, which determined that the gang operates independently from the Venezuelan government. Trump and his senior officials have disputed the finding.

Trump said Monday that three people were killed in a second American strike on a boat that was allegedly transporting narcotics from Venezuela. The strike followed an initial Sept. 2 attack on a boat that Trump said killed 11 people, while also drawing criticism.

Asked about proof that the targeted vessel was carrying drugs, Trump said US authorities had "recordings" from its departure indicating it was loaded with narcotics, adding that debris from the attack included "big bags of cocaine and fentanyl all over the place."

The strikes have prompted questions over their legality, including from members of Trump's own party.

Citing Vice President JD Vance’s shrugging off the legal questions prompted by the first attack, Sen. Rand Paul said on the US social media company X’s platform on Sept. 6: "JD ‘I don’t give a s---’ Vance says killing people he accuses of a crime is the 'highest and best use of the military'."