FORCES from Yemen’s Houthi-led government targeted a Liberian-flagged container ship in the Red Sea with missiles on Monday, authorities said.

Yemen’s military spokesman Brigadier General Yahya Saree said in a prerecorded statement that the vessel, the Pinocchio, was a US ship.

The master of the vessel reported the explosion and said no-one had been hurt, the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations centre said. 

The UKMTO later said the Pinocchio was managed by a Singaporean firm.

The Yemenis used two anti-ship ballistic missiles in the attack, the US military’s Central Command said.

Brig Gen Saree said the Yemenis would continue their attacks, aimed at pressuring an end to the Israel-Gaza war.

The attack comes after a Houthi missile struck a commercial ship in the Gulf of Aden last week, killing three crew members and forcing survivors to abandon the vessel.

It was the first fatal strike in a campaign of assaults by the Yemenis.

The US and the British have launched a series of air strikes targeting the Yemenis since January, but have yet to halt the attacks on shipping, which have disrupted trade through the Red Sea, a crucial waterway for energy and cargo shipments between Asia and Europe.