Sanaa, Mar 7 (UNI) At least two sailors were killed on Wednesday by a Yemeni Houthi missile attack against a U.S. cargo ship in the Gulf of Aden, the British embassy in Yemen said on the social media platform X.
"At least two innocent sailors have died. This was the sad but inevitable consequence of the Houthis recklessly firing missiles at international shipping," it said, stressing that "They (Houthis) must stop."
In a statement earlier the day, the Houthis claimed responsibility for launching a missile attack against a U.S. cargo ship in the Gulf of Aden.
"We attacked the U.S. True Confidence ship in the Gulf of Aden, with a number of appropriate marine missiles and the hit was accurate, causing fire on the ship," Yahya Sarea, spokesperson of the group, said in the statement aired by the Houthi-run al-Masirah TV.
"The attack came after the ship's crew rejected warning messages from the Yemeni naval forces," he added, noting that his group will not stop attacks until Israel stops its offensive against the Palestinian Hamas militants in Gaza.
It is the latest in a series of missile attacks launched by the Houthi group against commercial vessels, particularly those with suspected links to Israel, in the international shipping lane since November last year, in what the group said was an act of solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.
Last week, a British oil tanker sank in the Red Sea after the Houthi missile attack off Yemen's Hodeidah port city. Several other EU cargo vessels had been damaged by the Houthi missile attacks in the past weeks.
The U.S.-British coalition has launched dozens of airstrikes against Houthi targets to deter the group. However, the Houthis have escalated their strikes by targeting more commercial vessels as well as U.S. and British navy ships.
The Houthi group has maintained control over significant portions of northern Yemen since the onset of the Yemeni civil war in late 2014.
UNI/XINHUA ARN