CAIRO (Reuters) -British maritime security firm Ambrey said on Monday that a Netherlands-flagged general cargo ship reportedly came under attack 120 nautical miles southeast of Yemen’s port city of Aden.
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) also said that military authorities reported that a vessel, 128 nautical miles off Aden, had been hit by an unknown projectile and was reported to be on fire.
The UKMTO and Ambrey said they received reports of smoke in the vicinity of the vessel, with the UKMTO saying the ship’s master reported witnessing a splash in the distance.
At the time of the attack, the vessel was not transmitting its automatic identification system (AIS), Ambrey added.
The vessel was previously targeted on September 23 on its way to Djibouti, according to Ambrey.
The UKMTO said on September 23 that a vessel reported a splash and the sound of an explosion in its vicinity 120 nautical miles (222 km) east of Aden.
Both firms did not identify the party responsible.
It was not immediately clear if the reported attack was carried out by Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis, who had launched numerous attacks on vessels in the Red Sea since 2023 that they deem to be linked with Israel in what they say is solidarity with Palestinians in Israel’s war on Gaza.
(Reporting by Jaidaa Taha and Menna Alaa ElDin and Tala Ramadan; Editing by Toby Chopra)
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