The US military says it struck two boats it alleges were carrying drugs on Wednesday, killing five people on board. US Southern Command did not say where it had carried out the latest strikes but US forces have been targeting vessels they suspect of smuggling narcotics to the Caribbean and the eastern Pacific for the past three months.

The United States Coast Guard is searching for survivors of a U.S. military strike against a convoy of suspected drug vessels in the Pacific Ocean, U.S. officials said on Wednesday.