U.S. military attacks on suspected drug smugglers in the Caribbean have been less effective than portrayed by the Pentagon, the White House, or in videos released on social media by President Donald Trump, according to four government officials.

To date, the Trump administration has disclosed five attacks in its undeclared war in the Caribbean — the most recent on Tuesday. Each has been accompanied with a short aerial video posted to social media showing an explosion and the vessel bursting into flames.

The attacks have been deadly, killing 27 so far, according to the Trump administration. But the White House’s cinematic portrayal of seamless, one-shot attacks belies the fact that they have required more munitions and strikes than has been shown to the public.

One of the sources specified that a .50 caliber machine gun finally sunk the foundering vessel.

Multiple munitions were used in the majority of the first four attacks in the Caribbean, according to four government officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to The Intercept. Two said that the initial four declared attacks necessitated multiple missile strikes and, in one instance, the use of an additional weapon. One of the sources specified that a .50 caliber machine gun finally sunk the foundering vessel. Two of the attacks required at least three individual munitions, the sources said. Two sources indicated that AGM-114 Hellfire missiles have been used in some of the U.S. strikes.

Pentagon press secretary Kingsley Wilson did not respond to detailed questions about the attacks.

During the first attack, on September 2, civilians aboard the boat survived an initial strike, two American officials familiar with the matter told The Intercept at the time. They were then killed shortly after in a follow-up attack.

The attacks on boats are part of a war being waged by the Trump administration against undisclosed enemies without the consent of Congress, according to a confidential notice that was sent to several congressional committees earlier this month.

Trump also confirmed that he secretly authorized the CIA to conduct covert operations in Venezuela on Thursday and teased coming attacks on Venezuelan territory. “We are certainly looking at land now, because we’ve got the sea very well under control,” the president told reporters hours after the New York Times first reported the secret CIA authorization. The unprecedented admission of ongoing CIA covert action by a U.S. president is part of a campaign against Nicolás Maduro, Venezuela’s authoritarian leader.

The Trump administration has portrayed the victims of its boat attacks as Venezuelan narco-terrorists, but Colombian nationals were aboard at least one of the boats sunk by the United States, according to two government officials who spoke with The Intercept. One told The Intercept that Colombians were specifically targeted in the attack. CNN first reported this on Wednesday.

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