By AAMER MADHANI AND REGINA GARCIA CANO | THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump said the U.S. military on Monday again targeted a boat allegedly carrying drugs from Venezuela, killing three aboard the vessel.

"The Strike occurred while these confirmed narco-terrorists from Venezuela were in International Waters transporting illegal narcotics (A DEADLY WEAPON POISONING AMERICANS!) headed to the U.S.," Trump said in a Truth Social post announcing the strike. "These extremely violent drug trafficking cartels POSE A THREAT to U.S. National Security, Foreign Policy, and vital U.S. Interests."

The strike was carried out nearly two weeks after another military strike on what the Trump administration said was a drug-carrying speedboat from Venezuela that killed 11.

Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office later on Monday, Trump said he had been shown footage of the latest strike by Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Asked what proof the U.S. has that the vessel was carrying drugs, Trump replied, "We have proof. All you have to do is look at the cargo that was spattered all over the ocean - big bags of cocaine and and fentanyl all over the place."

The Trump administration has justified the first strike as a necessary escalation to stem the flow of drugs into the United States.

But several senators, Democrats and some Republicans, have indicated their dissatisfaction with the administration's rationale and questioned the legality of the action. They view it as a potential overreach of executive authority in part because the military was used for law enforcement purposes.

The Trump administration has claimed self-defense as a legal justification for the first strike, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio arguing the drug cartels "pose an immediate threat" to the nation.

U.S. officials said the strike early this month targeted Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan gang designated by the U.S. as a terrorist organization. And they indicated more military strikes on drug targets would be coming as the U.S. looks to "wage war" on cartels.

Trump did not specify whether Tren de Aragua was also the target of Monday's strike. The Venezuelan government did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the reported strike.

The Trump administration has railed specifically against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro for the scourge of illegal drugs in U.S. communities.

Maduro during a press conference earlier on Monday lashed out at the U.S. government, accusing the Trump administration of using drug trafficking accusations as an excuse for a military operation whose intentions are "to intimidate and seek regime change" in the South American country.

Maduro also repudiated what he described as a weekend operation in which 18 Marines raided a Venezuelan fishing boat in the Caribbean.

Following the first military strike on a boat allegedly carrying drugs from Venezuela, Rubio said Trump was "going to use the U.S. military and all the elements of American power to target cartels who are targeting America."

AP and others have reported that the boat had turned around and was heading back to shore when it was struck. But Rubio on Monday said he didn't know if that's accurate.