Yemen’s Houthi rebels claimed responsibility for the attack on a “British ship” off the coast of Yemen on Thursday after two shipping companies reported an explosion near the vessel in the area, AFP reported.

In a statement, military spokesman Houthi Yahya Sari said the ship had been fired by missiles as it passed through the Gulf of Aden and claimed it had been “hit”.

According to the UK Maritime Safety Agency (UKMTO), the explosion occurred “in close proximity” to the vessel east of the southern Yemeni city of Aden. The crew was not injured and the vessel proceeded to its next port of call, it added, without specifying who owned it.

Ambrey, a security company specializing in maritime transport, said “a cargo boat was targeted by an explosive device while in transit” east of Aden. “The projectile exploded ‘nearby’ but did not hit the vessel,” the report said, reporting “minor shrapnel damage.”

The attack comes after the US military said in late January it had intercepted a shipment of weapons from Iran destined for the Tehran-backed Houthi rebels.

The United States and the Houthis have engaged in a series of attacks and counterattacks since the rebels began attacking merchant ships off Yemen’s coast in mid-November, disrupting maritime communications in an area through which 12 percent of world trade passes.

Earlier in the day, US Central Command (Centcom) reported that “on January 28, a US Coast Guard ship seized conventional weapons and other lethal weapons from Iran destined for Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen aboard a vessel in the Arabian Sea.”

It is noted that the cargo included “more than 200 packages containing medium-range ballistic missile components, explosives, drone components, military communications and network equipment, anti-tank guided missile launchers and other military components.”