Houthis claim responsibility for oil tanker attack in Red Sea

Yemen's Houthis have claimed responsibility for an attack on the oil tanker M/T Pollux.

"The naval forces of the Yemeni armed forces carried out a targeting operation against a British oil ship [Pollux] in the Red Sea with a large number of appropriate naval missiles," Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Sarea said in a statement on Saturday, adding the strikes "were accurate and direct".

US Central Command (Centcom) said earlier in the day that four anti-ship ballistic missiles were launched from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen into the Red Sea on Friday.

Centcom said that at least three of the missiles were launched towards the M/T Pollux, which it said was a Panamanian-flagged, Denmark-owned, Panamanian-registered vessel.

There were no reported injuries, the statement added.

The Houthis have launched several drone and missile attacks on vessels in the Red Sea and the Bab al-Mandab Strait since November, as an act of solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.