Saudi Arabia destroys bomb-laden boat in Red Sea

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia on Tuesday intercepted and destroyed a remotely piloted explosives-laden boat off its territorial waters in the Red Sea, the state news agency SPA said.

"A remote-controlled boat was intercepted and destroyed at [06:40am] Tuesday morning [3:40 GMT]," SPA quoted Saudi Defense Ministry spokesperson Col. Turki al-Maliki as saying.

Al-Maliki stated that "the marine units were able to monitor the movement of the booby-trapped boat, which was remotely controlled in the waters of the Red Sea, off the shore of Yanbu city, Saudi Arabia."

SPA said an investigation was launched into the incident "to find out more details about this hostile attempt and to determine the party behind it."

For its part, Dryad Global, a London-based maritime security company, tweeted that they were "receiving unconfirmed reports that a vessel, possibly the NCC DAMMAM, has been attacked off Yanbu Port."

But, Abdullah Al-Dabikhi, the CEO of the Saudi National Shipping Company, denied the claim in a statement reported by Bloomberg and asserted the safety of all vessels of the company.

Yemen's Houthi rebel group has intensified its attacks against Saudi Arabia in recent weeks.

*Writing by Mahmoud Barakat