Oil tanker attacked off Yemen

DOHA: Unknown assailants attacked an oil tanker on Wednesday in a strategic Red Sea waterway near Yemen in the latest flare-up in an area through which much of the world’s oil passes.

The EU Naval Force said in a statement that the attackers fired rocketpropelled grenades before breaking off their assault on the Marshall Islandsflagged tanker MT MUSKIE in the southern Bab al Mandab Strait.

The tanker is 70,362 deadweight.

A spokesman for the EU force said the attack did not appear to have been launched by pirates and was likely related to “continuing instability at sea tonnes off the coast of Yemen.”

Vessels near Yemen’s southern coast have been attacked in recent months by militants who are fighting against Yemen’s government in a civil war.

Nearly four million barrels of oil are shipped daily to Europe, the United States and Asia via the Bab al Mandab, as well as other commercial goods.

In another development, fighters loyal to rival factions in Aden, seat of Yemen’s internationally-recognised government, traded gun and rocketfire for nearly three hours at the city’s airport over Tuesday night, witnesses said. One combatant was killed, they said. The clash ended when other forces backed by a Arab coalition intervened, a security official said.

The incident indicated the government’s inability to enforce order nearly two years after it recaptured the southern port city from its foes.

Militias and shadowy armed groups have proliferated in Aden since then, though internal clashes has been rare as fighters have mostly focused on securing the city from attacks by the local branch of IS.

The airport hosts infrequent flights from the national carrier Yemenia since it was refurbished and reopened in July last year after suffering war damage.