Trump says U.S. struck Venezuelan gang's vessel, killing 11

The U.S. military killed 11 people on Tuesday in a strike on a vessel from Venezuela allegedly carrying illegal narcotics, U.S. President Donald Trump said.

The strike is the first known operation since his administration's recent deployment of warships to the southern Caribbean, according to Reuters.

"We just, over the last few minutes, literally shot out a boat, a drug-carrying boat, a lot of drugs in that boat," Trump told reporters at the White House, according to Reuters.

"And there's more where that came from. We have a lot of drugs pouring into our country, coming in for a long time ... These came out of Venezuela."

He later shared a video on his Truth Social platform that appeared to show footage from overhead drones of a speedboat at sea exploding and then on fire.

"The strike resulted in 11 terrorists killed in action. No U.S. Forces were harmed in this strike," Trump said.

He added that the U.S. military had identified the crew as members of Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, which the U.S. designated a terrorist group in February. He repeated allegations that Tren de Aragua is being controlled by Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro, accusations that Caracas denies.