Naval coalition warns of risks for ships off Yemen

Suspected Qaeda militants attack Yemen army camp, 12 dead: military official

DUBAI, June 12, (Agencies): An international naval coalition said Monday it will step up its presence near a strategic shipping lane off Yemen as it warned of risks for boats transiting through the area.

The Bab el-Mandab Strait, which connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden, is a key passage for world trade.

“Recent attacks against merchant shipping in the Gulf of Aden and Bab el-Mandab have highlighted that there are still risks associated with transits through these waters,” the Combined Maritime Forces said in a statement.

A small boat exploded late last month “for an unknown reason” in a thwarted attack on a tanker in the area, the statement said.

“In response to these threats, the Combined Maritime Forces will be increasing the naval presence” in the western part of the Gulf of Aden, said the coalition.

The Combined Maritime Forces is a 31-state naval partnership, based in Bahrain and led by the US, that oversees security in some international waters including the Gulf of Aden.

Yemen is locked in a war between government forces backed by a Saudiled alliance and Iran-supported rebels, who control much of the country’s Red Sea coastline.

Earlier this month, an oil tanker came under fire off Yemen while passing through the Bab al-Mandab strait into the Red Sea, according to the Saudi-led alliance.

In March, the United States warned Yemen’s Houthi rebels posed a threat to free movement into and out of the Red Sea.

A multinational coalition of navies says it will step up patrols in waters around Yemen after several attacks there, including those launched by Somali pirates and others blamed on Yemeni rebel forces.

The Bahrain-based Combined Maritime Forces issued a statement to shippers Monday outlining the threats in the Gulf of Aden and Bab el-Mandeb, two crucial areas for shippers transiting the Suez Canal.

The maritime force noted one attack in May saw one of the boats attacking a vessel explode “for an unknown reason.”

Lt Ian McConnaughey, a spokesman for the US Navy’s 5th Fleet in Bahrain, declined to elaborate on who authorities believed was behind that attack.

McConnaughey tells The Associated Press: “We want people to focus on all of the threats and not think about one or the other.”

Meanwhile, suspected al-Qaeda militants launched a car-bomb and gun attack on an army camp in southeastern Yemen early on Monday, leaving at least 10 militants and two soldiers dead, a military official and residents said.

The assault near the town of Baddah in oil-producing Hadramout province came after a lull in attacks by the Islamist militant group.

Attackers set off two car bombs outside the camp, the official said. Residents said they also heard gunfire after two loud explosions.

“Our soldiers foiled the attack and managed to secure the camp and we are still pursuing those who have escaped in nearby farms,” the official told Reuters by phone.

Al-Qaeda took advantage of years of turmoil to build up one of its most active branches in the impoverished Arabian Peninsula country.

It has been forced out of some areas in recent years by Yemen’s army and allied Saudi-led coalition forces backing President Abd-Rabbo Mansour Hadi in Yemen’s civil war.

But its militants have retreated to mountainous and desert areas and launch regular attacks on Yemeni troops and government facilities.

The United States has launched two commando raids on al-Qaeda forces in Yemen this year and stepped up drone attacks. A soldier was killed and two others were wounded in an al-Qaeda attack Monday on a checkpoint in Yemen’s Hadramawt province that also left three assailants dead, the army said.