Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi militia said they fired missiles at a “British ship” off the country’s coast on Thursday, the latest in a series of incidents that have disrupted global shipping.
The announcement followed reports by two maritime security agencies of an attack east of Yemen’s Aden and came after the United States said on Thursday it had seized an Iranian weapons shipment in January destined for the Houthis.
The seizure is part of a wider effort by the United States to counter Houthi attacks on the key shipping route through the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea which have triggered reprisals by US and British forces, including a fresh wave of American strikes this week.
The Houthis carried “out a military operation targeting a British ship… while it was sailing through the Gulf of Aden,” the militia’s military spokesman Yahya Saree said on social media Thursday, claiming the missiles had made a “direct” hit.
Earlier, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations reported “an explosion in close proximity” to a ship east of Yemen’s Aden. It said the vessel was safe and sailing to its next port of call.
Security firm Ambrey said a “bulk carrier was targeted by an explosive projectile whilst transiting” east of Aden, without mentioning its nationality.
The projectile exploded off the vessel but did not strike it, Ambrey said, adding that the attack caused only “minor damage due to shrapnel impacting a diesel generator pipe which led to a diesel leak.”—AFP
