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Six people have been killed and 10 injured in strikes by Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis on a cargo ship in the Red Sea, the internationally recognised government of Yemen has said.<\/b><\/p>\n
The transport ministry said the vessel 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. <\/p>\n
Yemen’s coastguard later said a second deadly missile strike targeted rescuers who tried to evacuate the ship. <\/p>\n
The Houthis said they hit a ship carrying Saudi military equipment. It appears to be the first deadly attack by the group on a vessel since the US and Israel began striking Iran on 28 February.<\/p>\n
The Houthis <\/b>launched their attacks on shipping last month – announcing a naval blockade of Saudi ports.<\/p>\n
The conflict in the region has been ongoing for more than five months, punctuated by a faltering ceasefire which was meant to lead to a deal to end the war.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
The latest 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. <\/p>\n
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. <\/p>\n
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. <\/p>\n
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. <\/p>\n
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. <\/p>\n
Close-up pictures show the vessel is named Tihamah which, according to ship-tracking platform MarineTraffic, is in the Red Sea off Warner Point.<\/p>\n
Vanguard has identified the ship as sailing under the flag of Tanzania, while shipping website MarineTraffic says it is owned by an Egyptian operator. <\/p>\n
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”. <\/p>\n
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. <\/p>\n
Additional reporting by Ghoncheh Habibiazad <\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n