ADEN, Yemen, Nov. 26 (Xinhua) — Unknown attackers suspected of belonging to the Yemeni Houthi militia seized a business oil tanker off the coast of Aden on Sunday, a Coast Guard official informed Xinhua.
The Yemeni official, who requested to stay nameless, stated a Liberian-flagged ship, owned by an Israeli firm, was intercepted by suspected Houthi militants aboard fishing boats 50 nautical miles off the coast of Aden earlier this morning.
He clarified that the gunmen, utilizing fishing boats, intercepted the tanker, boarded it and took management of it. The official believed the hijackers have been members of the Houthi group.
Another official of the Yemeni Gulf of Aden Ports Corporation, who additionally required anonymity, revealed that the captured tanker started to maneuver away from its unique location after the seizure.
Efforts to speak with the tanker, together with calls from a Japanese warship this afternoon, have been unsuccessful because the ship’s automated identification system was reportedly nonfunctional, based on the official.
This incident got here only a week after one other high-profile seizure within the area. On Nov. 19, the Houthi group claimed to have captured an “Israeli cargo ship” within the Red Sea.
The Houthi group linked their motion to the continued battle within the Gaza Strip, which began on Oct. 7.
The Houthi militia controls a lot of Yemen’s north, together with the strategic Red Sea port metropolis of Hodeidah because the Yemeni civil conflict erupted in late 2014.