Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to the United Nations has identified the tanker that was attacked with a remotely controlled boat carrying explosives in the Gulf of Aden on 3 March as Gladiolus (IMO: 9169548), a Saudi-flagged vessel.
Four images released by the Saudi Press Agency showing the apparent attempted attack. Top left: An armed guard appears to point a rifle towards the first of two approaching skiffs. Bottom left: the skiff turns to run alongside the tanker. Bottom right: The skiff seems to turn back towards the tanker, showing it has no crew (Saudi Press Agency)
At the time, Colonel Turki al-Maliki, the spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition fighting the Ansar Allah (Houthi) group in Yemen, said a tanker that was heading towards Aden was attacked 90 n miles southeast of the Yemeni coastal town of Nishtun by four boats, at least one of which was unmanned and carrying explosives.
Col Maliki did not say how the attack was thwarted or identify the perpetrators but the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) released photographs showing what appeared to be an armed man on a large vessel observing approaching skiffs, one of which then swerved away to reveal that no one was on board.
In a letter to the UN Security Council that was released on 22 March, Saudi Permanent Representative to the UN Abdallah al-Mouallimi named the tanker but provided no additional details of the incident.
He noted the failed attack was “the first time unmanned, remote-controlled exploding boats would have been used in the Gulf of Aden” and blamed it on Ansar Allah. “It proves that the Houthi militia is expanding its terrorist acts that threaten maritime security in the Gulf of Aden and the south of the Red Sea,” he wrote.
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