Pentagon: Houthis are not behind the attack on Central Park in the Gulf of Aden

The Pentagon said Monday that the attempt to hijack a commercial vessel in the Gulf of Aden on Sunday was apparently carried out by Somali pirates, not Yemen’s Houthis.

Brigadier General Patrick Ryder, a Pentagon spokesman, said: “We are continuing to evaluate, but early indications are that these five individuals are Somali.”

“It is clear that the incident is related to piracy,” Ryder added.

A US Navy warship on Sunday responded to a distress call from the commercial tanker Central Park, which was seized by armed men while carrying a cargo of phosphoric acid.

Phosphoric acid is often used in the production of fertilizers.

The US military said that the attackers had been transferred to the US warship “Mason” and that the “Central Park” and its crew were safe.

The US military had indicated in a previous statement that the ship “Mason”, with the support of allied ships, had asked the attackers to release the commercial vessel.

Five militants attempted to escape on a speedboat, but the warship chased them until they surrendered.

The statement adds that two ballistic missiles were fired from Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen towards the Maysoon and Central Park ships, but landed ten nautical miles away from them and caused no injuries or damage.

The incident involving the chemical tanker is the latest in a series of attacks on shipping in the Middle East since war broke out between Israel and the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) last month.

This also comes in the wake of Yemen’s Houthis, allies of Iran, who seized an Israel-linked cargo ship in the southern Red Sea last week.

The Houthi group has pledged to target more Israeli ships. It had also launched ballistic missiles and armed drones against Israel.

LSEG data shows that the small tanker Central Park (19,998 tonnes) is operated by Zodiac Maritime Limited, owned by the Israeli Ofer family, an international ship management company based in London. The tanker was built in 2015, flies the Liberian flag and is owned by Klomviz Shipping Company.

Zodiac Maritime Limited said in a statement that Central Park was the victim of a suspected piracy incident while sailing in international waters, approximately 54 nautical miles off the coast of Somalia.

The statement adds: “Our priority is the safety of our 22 crew members on board the tanker. The vessel, led by a Turkish captain, has a multinational crew consisting of Russians, Vietnamese, Bulgarians, Indians, Georgians and Filipinos.” .