US destroys alleged Venezuelan drug boat, killing three

The attack came after the Venezuelan president said Caracas would defend itself against US "aggression".

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Trump said on Monday that three men were killed in the attack on "violent drug trafficking cartels". He provided no evidence that the boat was carrying drugs.

Shortly before, his Venezuelan counterpart Nicolás Maduro said Caracas would defend itself against US "aggression", calling America's top diplomat Marco Rubio the "lord of death and war".

Tensions between the two countries escalated after the US deployed warships to the southern Caribbean on what officials said were counter-narcotics operations, carrying out a strike which killed 11 people.

"This morning, on my orders, US military forces conducted a second kinetic strike against positively identified, extraordinarily violent drug trafficking cartels and narcoterrorists," Trump said on Truth Social.