A suspected attack by Yemen's Houthi militias saw an explosive detonate near a ship early Sunday in the Gulf of Aden, potentially marking their latest assault on shipping through the crucial waterway leading to the Red Sea.
The British military's United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center said the vessel's crew saw the blast as it passed off the coast of Aden, the port city in southern Yemen home to the country's legitimate government.
“No damage to the vessel has been reported and the crew are reported safe,” UKMTO said.
The Houthis have launched repeated drone and missile attacks in the same area, disrupting energy and cargo shipments through the Gulf of Aden.
The militias did not immediately claim responsibility for the attack, though it typically takes the Houthis several hours before acknowledging their assaults.
Separately, the US military's Central Command said it carried out a series of strikes targeting the Houthis. It said it destroyed five drone boats and one drone before takeoff from Houthi-controlled territory in Yemen on Saturday. It was an unusually high number of drone boats to be destroyed.
The US military also shot down one Houthi drone over the Red Sea, while another was “presumed to have crashed.”
“There were no reports of damage or injuries from ships in the vicinity,” Central Command said.
The Houthis have attacked ships since November, saying they want to force Israel to end its offensive in the Gaza Strip against Hamas.
The ships targeted by the Houthis, however, largely have had little or no connection to Israel, the US or other nations involved in the war. The militias have also fired missiles toward Israel, though they have largely fallen short or been intercepted.
Earlier in March, a Houthi missile struck a commercial ship in the Gulf of Aden, killing three of its crew members and forcing survivors to abandon the vessel. It marked the first fatal attack by the Houthis on shipping.
Other recent Houthi actions include an attack last month on a cargo ship carrying fertilizer that later sank after drifting for several days.
