Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth announced on Friday that the US military conducted its 10th strike on a vessel suspected of carrying drugs overnight, killing six people and bringing the death toll of the campaign against drug cartels to at least 46 people.

In a post on social media, he said that the vessel was operated by the Tren de Aragua gang and the strike occurred in the Caribbean.

The pace of the strikes has quickened in recent days from one every few weeks in September when they first began to three in one week now.

Two of the strikes this week were carried out in the eastern Pacific, expanding the area in which the military was willing to conduct the strikes.

In a 20-second black and white video of the strike that was posted to social media, a small boat can be seen apparently sitting motionless on the water when a long thin projectile descends on it resulting in an explosion.

The video ends before the explosion dies down enough for the remains of the boat to become visible again.