DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — A suspected attack by Yemen’s Houthi rebels on Friday set off explosions ahead of a vessel in the Gulf of Aden, authorities said.
No one was hurt on the ship, which continued on its way, according to the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Operations center, which watches over Middle East’s waterways. The private security firm Ambrey also separately reported the attack.
The Houthis did not immediately claim responsibility for the attack; it typically takes them several hours before they acknowledge their assaults.
Friday’s explosions came after a Houthi missile struck a commercial ship in the Gulf of Aden on Wednesday, killing three of its crew members and forcing survivors to abandon the vessel.
It was the first fatal strike in a campaign of assaults by the Iranian-backed group over Israel’s war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The Houthis describe the attacks as trying to pressure Israel into stopping the war, but their targets increasingly have little or nothing to do with the conflict.
Other recent Houthi actions include an attack last month on a cargo ship carrying fertilizer, the Rubymar, which sank on Saturday after drifting for several days, and the downing of an American drone worth tens of millions of dollars.