US strike on alleged drug boat in Pacific kills two

The US military's latest strike on an alleged drug-trafficking boat in the eastern Pacific Ocean has killed two men while leaving one survivor.

Video posted on Friday by US Southern Command shows a black, boat-shaped image before an explosion, followed by a column of fire rising from the ocean.

Southern Command said it "immediately notified the US Coast Guard to activate the Search and Rescue system for the survivor".

The White House announced on Wednesday that President Donald Trump has signed off on a new US counterterrorism strategy that sets eliminating drug cartels in the Western Hemisphere as the administration's highest priority.

The Trump administration's campaign of blowing up alleged drug-trafficking vessels in Latin American waters, including the eastern Pacific and the Caribbean Sea, has gone on since early September and killed at least 193 people.

The military has not provided evidence that any of the vessels were carrying drugs. The strikes have ramped up again in recent weeks.

At the same time, Trump has sought to press regional leaders to work more closely with the United States to target cartels and take military action themselves against drug traffickers and transnational gangs that he says pose an "unacceptable threat" to the hemisphere's national security.

Critics, meanwhile, have questioned the overall legality of the boat strikes.