The United States has carried out another strike on a vessel accused of drug trafficking, resulting in at least five deaths. The attack was announced in a statement by the US military’s Southern Command on Wednesday, though the location of the operation was not specified. Previous similar strikes had taken place in the Caribbean Sea and the eastern Pacific Ocean, according to Al Jazeera. The US Coast Guard has been directed to conduct search and rescue operations at the site, but no evidence supporting the attack has been presented.

The statement detailed that three alleged traffickers were killed in the first operation, while others from two additional boats jumped into the water to escape. Those boats were later sunk in a subsequent strike, which killed two more people. The military said the Coast Guard was instructed to activate its search and rescue system. A similar incident in September had drawn heavy criticism after reports that survivors were targeted, with some Democratic lawmakers and legal experts calling it a crime, while the Trump administration and some Republican lawmakers defended it as lawful.