US sinks 3 Houthi attack boats as gunmen try to board container ship in Red Sea

US helicopters sank three boats carrying Houthi gunmen who attacked a container ship that was transiting the Red Sea, the US military said Sunday.

A US warship also shot down two ballistic missiles fired from Yemen, the US Central Command (CENTCOM) said in a statement.

It said that at 6:30 a.m. local time, the Maersk Hangzhou, a Singapore-flagged, Denmark-owned and -operated container ship issued a second distress call after earlier reporting that it was hit by a missile.

The ship signaled that it was under attack by “four Iranian-backed Houthi small boats” CENTCOM posted on X, formerly Twitter.

It said the boats fired small arms at the Maersk Hangzhou, approached to within 20 meters of the vessel, and tried to board it. A contract-embarked security team returned fire at the Houthis. READ MORE