A Houthi missile attack has killed three seafarers on a Red Sea merchant ship, US Central Command (Centcom) has said, the first fatalities reported since the Iran-aligned Yemeni group began strikes against shipping in one of the world's busiest trade lanes.
The Houthis claimed responsibility for the attack, which set the Greek-owned, Barbados-flagged ship True Confidence ablaze around 50 nautical miles off the coast of Yemen's port of Aden.
A US State Department spokesman vowed to hold the Houthi rebels accountable for the strike.
The True Confidence bulk tanker that was attacked by the Houthis from the Yemeni rebel movement Ansar Allah was not a US ship, the White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told a regular briefing for journalists on Wednesday.
ReplyDelete"Today, the Houthis have killed innocent civilians by continuing their reckless attacks against international commercial shipping, which impacts countries throughout the world. The ship they attacked was a Barbados flagged Liberian owned one bulk carrier. It was not a US ship contrary to what the Houthis claimed," she said.