The Saudi-led Arab coalition announced that it had foiled a terrorist attack against an oil tanker in the Arabian Sea off the coast of Yemen, local media reported.
Coalition spokesman Turki al-Malki said the incident took place southeast of Yemen’s Nishtun port on Tuesday, while the tanker was sailing towards the Gulf of Aden. He added that four explosives-laden remotely controlled vessels approached the tanker, aiming to attack it.
Malki condemned the attack, saying it posed a threat to global energy and trade and marine routes. “The Joint Forces Command of the Coalition will continue to implement all necessary measures and procedures to neutralise and eliminate any naval threats”, he added.
Yemen has been torn by conflict since 2014, when Houthi rebels seized the capital and ousted the government of president Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi.
The legitimate forces, backed by the Saudi-led Arab coalition fight Iran-backed Houthi militias, complicating the fragile peace talks between Saudi Arabia and the Iran-backed rebels. Over 10,000 people were killed in the war and more than 3 million were displaced since the beginning of the war.
Saudi coalition foils terrorist attack on oil tanker off Yemen coast
EPA/MC3 ANTHONY N. HILKOWSKI / HANDOUT HANDOUT EDITORIAL USE ONLY
An aerial handout imge made available by US Navy showing the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71) and the guided-missile cruiser USS Normandy (CG 60) operating in the Arabian Sea on 21 April 2015 conducting maritime security operations. Reports state an Iranian convoy of some 8 vessels is heading towards Yemen, a move that has raised concern within the coalition led by Saudi Arabia that fears Iran may be sending weapons to the Shiite Houthi rebels fighting Yemen's government. US supports Saudi Arabia whose coalition has targeted Houthi rebels with airstrikes.
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