A combination image shows screen captures from a video posted on the White House X account on September 15 depicting what President Donald Trump said was a strike on a Venezuelan drug cartel vessel. Trump announced another strike on an alleged drug vessel on Oct. 18.

President Donald Trump said a U.S. strike destroyed a submarine heading towards the United States with illegal narcotics and killed two people onboard, while two other passengers survived and are being returned to their home countries.

The attack announced by Trump on Oct. 18 marks the sixth time that the U.S. has targeted alleged drug trafficking vessels since September. At least 29 people have been killed in the strikes, which have faced criticism from legal experts and lawmakers from both parties.

Trump said intelligence experts confirmed the submarine was "loaded up with Fentanyl." One of the survivors is being sent to Ecuador, while the other is being sent to Colombia "for dentention and prosecution," the president said.

"Under my watch, the United States of America will not tolerate narcoterrorists trafficking illegal drugs, by land or by sea," Trump wrote on social media.

While the Trump administration has said that the vessels being targeted are carrying drugs and has labeled their passengers "narco-terrorists," it has yet to produce evidence of either allegation to Congress and lawmakers have sought to curtail the strikes.

In October, Republican senators blocked a measure pushed by Democratic Sens. Adam Schiff of California and Tim Kaine of Virginia that sought to put a check on Trump's military actions without congressional approval by halting the campaign against boats in the Caribbean Sea.

Trump designated some drug cartels as "foreign terrorist organizations" in February, a move administration officials argue gives them legal justification for the strikes.

The president has suggested he might go further and order strikes on land to combat the flow of drugs from Venezuelan cartels.

"We are certainly looking at land now because we've got the sea very well under control," Trump told reporters Oct. 15.

Contributing: Joey Garrison, Cybele Mayes-Osterman

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump says survivors of latest strike on alleged drug vessel will be sent to home nations

Reporting by Zac Anderson, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect