At least six people were killed Tuesday when suspected attacks by Iran-backed Houthi rebels struck a cargo vessel near the strategic Bab al-Mandeb Strait off Yemen's southern coast, the country's coastguard said.
The strikes are the latest in a number of deadly attacks against shipping in the entrance to the Red Sea since the Houthis announced a naval blockade of Saudi Arabia last month.
The coastguard from Yemen's internationally recognized government said four sailors aboard the cargo vessel – identified as the "Tihamah" – were among the dead along with two members of the forces deployed during a rescue mission to evacuate the ship.
The initial salvo targeting the ship "caused a fire to break out aboard the vessel and inflicted extensive damage, in addition to causing deaths and injuries among its crew, including three Pakistani nationals and one Indonesian national killed," the coastguard said in a statement.
A second strike targeted the vessel as rescue workers carried out a mission to evacuate the ship.
"The attack struck the site of the rescue operation and resulted in deaths and injuries among the forces participating in the response operation," the coast guard added, saying 10 people were injured over the course of the strikes.
The statement came hours after the Yemen government's transport ministry accused the Houthis of launching the strikes that hit the vessel.
The ministry gave a slightly smaller toll, saying four had been killed.
The transport ministry in its statement said it "held the Houthi terrorist militias fully responsible for the deaths, injuries and damage inflicted on the commercial vessel 'Tihamah' as well as for the serious consequences resulting from these attacks."
There was no official comment from the Houthis about the alleged attack.
The incident comes after a years-long truce in Yemen's civil war between the Houthis and the Saudi-backed, internationally recognized government collapsed last month as fighting flared between Iran and the United States.
The breakdown of the U.N.-backed 2022 accord came as the Houthis announced a maritime blockade of Saudi Arabia, hitting Saudi tankers in the Red Sea and the kingdom's oil infrastructure, in parallel with Iran's blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.
