Arab coalition thwarts attack on oil tanker off Yemen

The Saudi-led Arab coalition in Yemen yesterday said it had foiled an attack on an oil tanker off the Yemeni coast.

Official Saudi Press Agency (SPA) quoted the coalition’s spokesperson Turki Al-Malki as saying that the attack had taken place some 90 nautical miles southeast of Yemen’s Nishtun port as the tanker was sailing towards the Gulf of Aden. He explained that four explosives-laden vessels had approached the tanker in an attempt to attack it.

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“The attack has posed a threat to global energy and trade and marine routes,” Al-Malki warned, stressing that the Arab coalition would continue to implement “the necessary measures to neutralize and destroy any marine threat in its area of operations.”

The coalition recently accused the Iranian-backed Al-Houthi group in Yemen of attacking ships off the coast of Yemen with unmanned booby-trapped boats.

No groups have claimed responsibility for the attack yet.