President Donald Trump says the US military has carried out its third fatal strike this month on a vessel allegedly carrying drugs.

In a post on Truth Social on Friday, local time, Mr Trump said the Pentagon had ordered the strike on the vessel, which was in the US Southern Command's area of responsibility.

He said "three male narcoterrorists aboard the vessel" were killed in the strike.

"Intelligence confirmed the vessel was trafficking illicit narcotics, and was transiting along a known narcotrafficking passage enroute to poison Americans," he said.

Mr Trump's post included a 40-second video that appeared to show a vessel steering through a body of water before exploding into flames.

The president did not specify where the vessel departed from or exactly where the strike took place.

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