March 6 (UPI) — A Houthi attack on a merchant vessel in the Gulf of Aden on Wednesday killed two and injured six, according to U.S. officials.
The attack on the Barbados-flagged M/V True Confidence marked the first time the Houthi attacks have claimed lives, U.S. officials told the BBC and CNN. Two crewmen were killed and six injured in the attack, which occurred at about 11:30 a.m. local time.
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations Center said the ship was “reported to have been hit and has suffered damage” about 54 nautical miles southwest of Aden, Yemen.
It said a ship in the area had reported hearing a “loud bang” and then seeing a “large plume of smoke.”
Authorities were investigating and Coalition Forces were providing support, UKMTO said.
In an earlier bulletin, UKMTO said an entity identifying itself as the Yemeni Navy hailed a merchant ship in the Red Sea off Aden over the radio in an apparent failed effort to force it to alter course early Wednesday.
The group spent about 30 minutes on the radio attempting to coerce the ship’s master to cooperate with their instructions.
The rebels came on the radio at about 5 a.m. local time when the vessel was about 50 nautical miles southwest of the port city Aden, east of the Bab-el-Mandeb entrance to the Red Sea. It is unclear if the vessel was headed toward or away from the Red Sea.
The encounter, which comes amid attacks by Iran-backed Houthi rebels in the area, followed U.S. Central Command saying it had downed four anti-ship ballistic missiles, three unmanned aerial drones and three unmanned sea drones in a pair of attacks launched from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen toward the destroyer USS Carney in the Red Sea.
There were no injuries or damage to the ship in the attacks on Tuesday afternoon and evening, CENTCOM said in a news release.
“CENTCOM forces identified the missiles, UAVs and USVs and determined that they presented an imminent threat to merchant vessels and to the U.S. Navy ships in the region.
“These actions are taken to protect freedom of navigation and make international waters safer and more secure for U.S. Navy and merchant vessels,” CENTCOM said.
Houthi spokesman Ameen Hayyan said in a post on X that the group had conducted a “qualitative military operation” targeting two American warship destroyers in the Red Sea with a number of naval missiles and drones.
Hayyan threatened Yemeni armed forces would “not hesitate to expand” their attacks against “all hostile targets,” in response to calls from the Yemeni people to come to the aid of Palestinians.
“The operations of the Yemeni armed forces will not stop until the aggression stops and the siege imposed on the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip is lifted,” he said.
Earlier Tuesday, an Indian warship patrolling in the Gulf of Aden came to the aid of a Swiss-owned container ship set ablaze after being struck by a missile or drone.
The Indian Navy said in a post on X that a specialized firefighting team of 12 personnel from INS Kolkata boarded the MSC Sky II in the early hours of Tuesday to assist in firefighting efforts, after rushing to the scene 90 nautical miles southeast of Aden.
“A specialist explosive ordnance team also embarked the vessel and provided assistance in residual risk assessment,” the Navy spokesperson said.