A US-owned bulk carrier has been hit off the southwestern coast of the port city of Aden in what appears to be another retaliatory operation by Yemen’s armed forces.

“A nearby vessel reported an explosion in the proximity of the Barbados-flagged, publicly US-owned bulk carrier,” said the British maritime security firm Ambrey.

“Reports confirmed the bulker had been struck and sustained damage,” said Ambrey. It added that a rescue operation was “underway with parts of the crew already in lifeboats.”

Reuters quoted a shipping source as saying that three crew members were missing from the bulk carrier True Confidence and four others have been badly burned. The shipping source, who declined to be identified, said the vessel appeared to have been abandoned.

A US defense official said smoke was seen coming from True Confidence. The official, who declined to be named, told Reuters a lifeboat had also been seen in the water near the ship.

Yemen has not commented on the attack.

Yemen’s armed forces have been striking Israeli-linked ships since November 2023 in a campaign to force the Israeli regime to end its brutal aggression in the besieged Gaza Strip.

The United States and Britain have been carrying out strikes against Yemen since early January to force Yemen to stop its strikes on Israel-linked ships. That has caused Yemenis to expand their maritime strikes to target ships owned by the two countries.

At least “15 commercial ships have been impacted” since November, including four US ships, Pete Nguyen, the US Department of Defense spokesman, said on March 1.

The flurry of strikes has caused several shipping firms to suspend passage through the Red Sea, which usually carries around 12 percent of global trade.

Yemen says the attacks against shipping in the Red Sea would only stop after the Israeli regime ended the blockade of Gaza.

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