Three Egyptian fishermen were killed and others survived when a mine laid by Yemen's Houthi rebels struck their boat in the Red Sea.
A high-ranking official from the Yemeni Armed Forces uncovered that search and investigation operations found that the militias planted more than 300 mines in the Red Sea waters.
Yemeni Army spokesman Brigadier General Abdo Majli told Asharq Al-Awsat Thursday that Iranian-backed Houthis have deliberately planned to threaten maritime navigation and international trade in the regional waters.
He said those militias took advantage of the ceasefire in the past years to plant more than a million mine in areas under their control.
“Those mines are planted without the presence of any maps and are often moved by winds to other locations,” he said.
Majli’s comments coincided with a statement issued by the Arab Coalition on Thursday saying that Houthis continue to sporadically plant sea mines to obstruct navigation and international trade in the southern Red Sea and Bab Al Mandeb, adding that a mine allegedly planted by the Iran-backed militia has been detected in the Red Sea.
The Saudi-led Coalition said: “At 2 am on Thursday, Coalition Naval forces responded to a communication reporting the sinking of a fishing boat in International Waters in the Red Sea as a result of a naval mine explosion.”
It added that six Egyptian fishermen were on board. “We could rescue three of them and the others were killed when the mine exploded.”
The Coalition said the Iran-backed Houthi militias’ continued planting of naval mines is a serious threat to maritime navigation and international trade in the south of the Red Sea and Bab-el-Mandeb Strait.
The coalition had found and neutralized 137 mines planted by the Houthis and also intercepted "drone boats" packed with explosives that the rebels have used to target naval vessels and shipping.
