A merchant ship came under attack in the Red Sea by armed men firing guns and launching rocket-propelled grenades off the coast of Yemen, a British military group said.
No-one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, which comes as tensions remain high in the Middle East over the Israel-Hamas war.
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) centre said that an armed security team on the ship had returned fire and that the ‘situation is ongoing’.
‘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 ship was attacked 51 nautical miles south west of Al Hudaydah.
The UKMTO advised vessels in the area to proceed with caution and report any suspicious activity.
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 had 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. This has greatly reduced the flow of trade through the Red Sea corridor, which typically sees one trillion US dollars of goods move through it annually.
The Houthis paused attacks in a self-imposed ceasefire until the US launched a broad assault against the rebels in mid-March. This ended weeks later and the Houthis have not attacked a vessel, although they have continued occasional missile attacks targeting Israel.
Meanwhile, a wider, decade-long war in Yemen between the Houthis and the country’s exiled government, backed by a Saudi-led coalition, remains in a stalemate.
Pirates from Somalia have also operated in the region, although typically they have sought to capture vessels either to rob or ransom their crews.
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, check our news page.