The attackers seized Central Park, a Liberian-flagged town located along Zodiac Maritime in the Gulf of Aden, the corporate and personnel intelligence corporation Ambrey said. A U. S. defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence matters, also told The Associated Press that the attack took place.
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Zodiac called the seizure an “alleged hacking incident. “
“Our priority is the protection of all 22 of our team members on board,” Zodiac said in a statement. “The Turkish captains’ dispatch has a multinational team consisting of Russian, Vietnamese, Bulgarian, Indian, Georgian and Filipino nationals. The shipment carries a full shipment of phosphoric acid.
Zodiac described the ship as owned by Clumvez Shipping Inc. , other documents link Zodiac directly to the owner. London-based Zodiac Maritime is part of Israeli billionaire Eyal Ofer’s Zodiac group. The British company’s records list two men with the surname Ofer as current and former directors. of Clumvez Shipping, adding Daniel Guy Ofer, who is also a director of Zodiac Maritime.
It was not immediately clear who the attack was. Near Aden is controlled by forces allied with Yemen’s international government and a Saudi-led coalition that has been battling Yemen’s Iranian-backed Houthi rebels for years. This part of the Gulf of Aden is theoretically under the control of those forces and is quite far from the territory of the country controlled by the Houthis. Somali pirates are also not known to operate in this area.
The U. S. defense official said it appeared that “an unknown number of unidentified armed individuals” had seized the ship.
“U. S. and coalition forces are nearby and we are closely monitoring the situation,” the official said.
Ambrey said it gave the impression that “the U. S. Naval forces are involved in the scenario and have asked ships to stay away from the area.
Zodiac Maritime has already been the subject of a larger shadow war between Iran and Israel. In 2021, a drone strike, said to have been carried out through the United States and other Western countries via Iran, killed two crew members aboard the oil tanker Zodiac Mercer Street, off the coast of Oman.
The British Army’s Commercial Maritime Operations in the UK, which issues warnings to sailors in the Middle East, had in the past warned sailors that “two black and white ships with eight other people dressed in military-style clothing” had been spotted in the area. He issued some other warning that radio traffic warned that a possible attack had occurred before acknowledging the seizure.
The UKMTO located the ship more than 60 kilometers (35 miles) south of Yemen’s coast, about 80 kilometers (50 miles) east of Djibouti and about 110 kilometers (70 miles) northeast of Somalia in the Gulf of Aden, a key sea. route.
The Central Park seizure comes after a container ship, the CMA CGM Symi, owned by another Israeli billionaire, was attacked by a suspected Iranian drone in the Indian Ocean on Friday. Iran has not claimed to have exhausted the attack, nor has it responded to the Palestinian Authority’s questions about the attack.
In recent days, Symi and Central Park have behaved as if they were facing a threat.
The shipments had disabled their automatic identity formula trackers, according to MarineTraffic. com data analyzed by the AP. Ships must keep their AIS active for protection reasons, but crews will turn it off if it appears they are under attack. In the case of Central Park, the shipment was last transmitted 4 days ago after leaving the Suez Canal heading south towards the Red Sea.
The attacks come as global shipping is the target of a weeks-long war that threatens to escalate into a broader regional clash, even as a truce has ended the fighting and Hamas is trading hostages for Palestinian prisoners held through Israel. .
As the war between Israel and Hamas continues, which began with the attack on the Palestinian militant organization on Oct. 7, the Houthis have seized a shipment of vehicles in the Red Sea, off the coast of Yemen. Recognize the takeover of Central Park.
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