Ship catches fire off Yemen after being hit by unknown projectiles

DUBAI: A ship travelling through the Red Sea is reportedly on fire after coming under attack Sunday by armed men firing guns and launching rocket-propelled grenades, authorities said.

One report said the unidentified vessel was later hit by what may have been bomb-carrying boats, setting it ablaze.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, which comes as tensions remain high in the Middle East over the Israel-Hamas war and after the Iran-Israel war and airstrikes by the United States targeting Iranian nuclear sites.

However, suspicion immediately fell on Yemen's Houthi rebels, who have launched attacks on ships in the Red Sea corridor in the past and have drone boats in their arsenal.

The British military's United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center said that an armed security team on the unidentified vessel had returned fire and that the "situation is ongoing." It described the attack as happening some 100 kilometres southwest of Hodeida, Yemen, which is held by the country's Houthi rebels.