Vessel reports sound of nearby explosion off Yemeni coast, UKMTO says

This handout picture provided by EUNAVFOR ASPIDES on September 15, 2024, and dated September 14, shows a vessels surrounding the Greek-owned oil tanker Sounion as smoke billows from it, off the coast of Hodeida in the Red Sea. (AFP)
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Updated 23 September 2025
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Vessel reports sound of nearby explosion off Yemeni coast, UKMTO says

  • UKMTO said on Tuesday a vessel reported a splash and the sound of an explosion in its vicinity 120 nautical miles (222 km) east of Yemen's port city, Aden

DUBAI: A British maritime security agency said an explosion was heard Tuesday near a vessel off Yemen, where Houthi militants have been targeting shipping since the Gaza war began in 2023.
United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO), run by the Britain’s Royal Navy, said it “received a report of an incident 120 nautical miles east of Aden, Yemen.”
It reported “splash and sound of explosion in the vicinity of vessel. Vessel and crew reported safe and proceeding to next port of call,” it added.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast, which UKMTO described as an “attack.”
The Iran-backed Houthi militants, who have controlled large swathes of Yemen for more than a decade, have been attacking vessels they deem linked to Israel since soon after the Gaza war began with the Hamas attack of October 2023.
Earlier this month, the rebels said they had fired a missile at a tanker in the Red Sea, days after Israeli strikes killed their prime minister and nearly half of his cabinet.

 

 

 

 


US condemns RSF drone attack on World Food Programme convoy in Sudan’s North Kordofan

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US condemns RSF drone attack on World Food Programme convoy in Sudan’s North Kordofan

WASHINGTON: The US has condemned a drone attack on a World Food Programme (WFP) convoy in Sudan’s North Kordofan state that killed one person and injured three others.

“The United States condemns the recent drone attack on a World Food Program convoy in North Kordofan transporting food to famine-stricken people which killed one and wounded many others,” US Senior Adviser for Arab and African Affairs Massad Boulos wrote on X.

“Destroying food intended for people in need and killing humanitarian workers is sickening,” the US envoy wrote.

“The Trump Administration has zero tolerance for this destruction of life and of U.S.-funded assistance; we demand accountability and extend our condolences to all those affected by these inexcusable events and terrible war,” he added.

 

 

Since April 2023, the conflict between Sudan’s army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has killed tens of thousands, displaced 11 million and which the UN has described as one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.

An alert issued by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), confirmed famine conditions in El-Fasher and Kadugli, the capital of South Kordofan, about 800 kilometers to the east.

The IPC said that 20 more areas in Sudan’s Darfur and neighboring Kordofan were at risk of famine.

The Sudan Doctors Network said the convoy was struck by RSF drones in the Allah Karim area as it headed toward displaced people in El-Obeid, the state capital, Anadolu Agency reported.

The network described the attack as a “clear violation of international humanitarian law,” warning that it undermines efforts to deliver life-saving aid to civilians amid worsening humanitarian conditions across the country.

There was no immediate comment from the rebel group.

Of Sudan’s 18 states, the RSF controls all five states in the western Darfur region, except for parts of North Darfur that remain under army control. The army holds most areas of the remaining 13 states across the south, north, east and center of the country, including the capital, Khartoum.

The conflict between the army and the RSF, which erupted in April 2023, has killed thousands of people and displaced millions.