Gunfire hits ship off Yemen: UK maritime agency

Perth Now

14 hours ago

A ship has come under attack in the Red Sea off the coast of Yemen by armed men firing guns and launching rocket-propelled grenades, a group overseen by the UK military says.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, which comes as tensions remain high in the Middle East over the Israel-Hamas war and after the Iran-Israel air war and air strikes by the United States targeting Iranian nuclear sites.
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations centre said that an armed security team on the ship had returned fire and that the "situation is ongoing".
It described the attack as happening 100km southwest of Hodeida, Yemen, which is held by the country's Houthi rebels.
"Authorities are investigating," it said.
Ambrey, a maritime security firm, issued a warning saying that a merchant ship had been "attacked by eight skiffs while transiting northbound in the Red Sea".
It said it believed the attack was ongoing.
The US navy's Middle East-based 5th Fleet referred questions to the military's Central Command, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Houthi rebels have been launching missile and drone attacks against commercial and military ships in the region in what the group's leadership has described as an effort to end Israel's offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
The group's al-Masirah satellite news channel acknowledged the attack occurred but offered no other comment on it as it aired a speech by its secretive leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi.
Between November 2023 and January 2025, the Houthis targeted more than 100 merchant vessels with missiles and drones, sinking two of them and killing four sailors.
That has greatly reduced the flow of trade through the Red Sea corridor, which typically has $US1 trillion ($A1.5 trillion) worth of goods move through it annually.
The Houthi rebels paused attacks in a self-imposed ceasefire until the US launched a broad assault against the rebels in mid-March.
That ended weeks later and the Houthis have not attacked a vessel although they have continued occasional missile attacks targeting Israel.
On Sunday, the group claimed launching a missile at Israel which the Israeli military said it intercepted.
Pirates from Somalia also have operated in the region although typically they have sought to capture vessels either to rob or ransom their crews.