The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations said on its website that three ships with three or four people each were involved in an “attack” 18 nautical miles south of the port of Nishtun, before describing what happened as an “accident.”
A member of the Yemeni coast guard was killed by gunmen on board a yacht during an exchange of fire on Friday, according to the company “Ambry”, which specializes in the field of maritime security. The British Maritime Security Agency, “Maritime Trade Operations in the United Kingdom,” “United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations,” reported on Friday that a ship was exposed to fire in the Gulf of Aden at three o’clock UTC.
And after I made it clear that the matter was related to a yacht flying the flag of the Cook Islands and left the Omani port of Salalah before entering Yemeni waters, the British-based Ambry Maritime Security Company also stated that a three-man security team on board the yacht fired about 150 bullets “in response to the attack.” Shooting”. She added, “Several reports confirmed the killing of a Yemeni element,” which attributed “his death to the armed security team on the yacht.”
A Yemeni security official confirmed to AFP the death, saying that coast guards approached the yacht because they wrongly assumed it was carrying a shipment of weapons.
And “Ambry” confirmed that all members of the yacht’s crew were safe, and talked about damage to the passenger compartment and the upper structure as a result of the gunfire. And the “United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations” stated on its website that three ships, each with three or four people on board, were involved in an “attack” 18 nautical miles south of the port of Nishtun, before describing what happened as an “accident.” She explained that the authorities confirmed the incident, stressing that it was “an activity of a government agency,” without additional details.
The port of Nishtun is located in the southeastern province of Al-Mahra, which is controlled by the Yemeni government and its Saudi-led allied forces. Somali pirates often launch sea attacks, which have declined in recent years thanks to efforts to secure international waters. The Gulf of Aden was in the past a major site for piracy operations in Africa.
But these operations are currently concentrated in the Gulf of Guinea off West Africa, but they are not uncommon off Yemen, the poorest country in the Arabian Peninsula ravaged by more than eight years of war between pro-government forces backed by a Saudi-led military coalition, and the Houthi rebels backed by Iran.
In 2022, the Houthis seized a ship flying the Emirati flag, which they said was transporting military equipment. In 2021, pirates attempted to seize Iranian oil tankers before Iranian forces repelled them.
Like other countries using the sea route through the Red Sea and the Suez Canal, Iran strengthened its naval presence in the Gulf of Aden after a wave of attacks by Somali-based pirates between 2000 and 2011.
