Yemen’s Houthi rebels claim attack on cargo ship in Gulf of Aden
- Houthis said vessel was targeted ‘because the company that owns the ship decided to violate the ban on entry to ports of occupied Palestine’
Yemen’s Houthi rebels on Sunday claimed a strike on a cargo ship in the Gulf of Aden in the first such attack since Israel struck the rebel-controlled Hodeida port last month.
“The naval and missile units in the Yemeni armed forces carried out a joint military operation in which they targeted the ship Groton in the Gulf of Aden with several ballistic missiles,” said Houthi spokesman Yahya Saree in a statement.
The vessel was targeted “because the company that owns the ship decided to violate the ban on entry to ports of occupied Palestine”, he added.
British maritime security agency UKMTO and maritime security firm Ambrey said the Liberian-flagged Groton was struck twice by missiles near the coast of Aden.
The second hit caused “minor damage”, the United Kingdom Maritime trade Operations run by the British navy said in a statement.
“All of the ship’s crew are safe (no injuries were reported). It was reported that the ship was rerouted to a nearby port,” it added.