BOGOTA, Colombia (AFP)—The Colombian government has asked the United States to stop attacking vessels in the Pacific and the Caribbean as part of an operation that Washington says is targeting drug smuggling.

US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth on Wednesday announced strikes on two alleged drug-running boats in the Pacific that left five people dead.

The strikes, which Hegseth said were carried out in international waters, bring the total number of such US attacks to at least nine, with 37 people dead, according to US figures.

“Colombia calls on the US government to cease these attacks and urges it to respect the norms dictated by international law,” the foreign ministry said in a statement Wednesday evening.

The government of leftist President Gustavo Petro, who has been embroiled in a war of words with Trump, “rejects the destruction by the United States of a vessel allegedly related to drug trafficking in the Pacific Ocean,” the statement added.

Trump and Petro exchanged angry threats on Wednesday.

Trump branded Petro a “thug” and suggested he was a drug trafficker leading his country to ruin, prompting Petro to vow: “I will defend myself legally with American lawyers.”

The US president also said military aid to Bogota had been cut and warned Petro to “watch it,” while Secretary of State Marco Rubio called the Colombian leader a “lunatic.”

In the statement, Colombia reiterated “its call on the US government to engage in dialogue through diplomatic channels” to “continue jointly the fight against drugs in the region” as they had been doing for decades.