Four people have reportedly been killed in an attack on a small cargo ship in the Red Sea suspected to have been carried out by Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis, the internationally recognised government of Yemen has said.
If confirmed, it would be the first deadly strike by the group on a vessel since the US and Israel started a conflict against Iran.
Yemen’s transport ministry said the ship was hit with three ballistic missiles, south of the port of Mocha, causing a fire on board and resulting in the deaths of four crew – three Pakistanis and one Indonesian.
The Houthis began attacks on shipping last month – announcing a naval blockade of Saudi ports. They have not admitted carrying out the attack.
The conflict in the region has been ongoing since the end of February, punctuated by a faltering ceasefire which was meant to lead to a deal to end the war.
It has whipped up regional tensions, with the Houthis also attacking Saudi tankers in the Red Sea and oil facilities, in parallel with Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz – the vital waterway where a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas used to transit.
The attack comes after a years-long truce in Yemen’s civil war between the Houthis and the Saudi-backed, internationally recognised government collapsed last month.
The Houthis control much of north-western Yemen, and frequently clash with the government. The government operates out of Aden in the south, due to the capital Sanaa being held by the Houthis.
Social media images examined by BBC Verify appear to show a damaged cargo ship in the Bab al-Mandab Strait, which sits at the inlet of the Red Sea, off the coast of Yemen.
In its statement, the Yemeni government said the ship had been carrying food, and that the attack on a commercial vessel marked an escalation in approach from the Houthis.
In an earlier statement, maritime risk management company Vanguard said the Yemeni Navy deployed to assist the vessel and came under fire. This resulted in three others being injured.
Close-up pictures show the vessel is named Tihamah which, according to ship-tracking platform MarineTraffic, is in the Red Sea off Warner Point.
Vanguard has identified the ship as sailing under the flag of Tanzania, while shipping website MarineTraffic says it is owned by an Egyptian operator.
In its statement, Yemen’s ministry of transport referred to Tihama as a “Yemeni commercial ship”, while earlier reports in Iranian media referred to it as “Saudi-affiliated”.
The pictures of the vessel, which were shared by Iran’s semi-official Mehr news agency, have been verified as new and show no signs of AI-generation.
Additional reporting by Ghoncheh Habibiazad