Sanaa, Jan 27 (IANS): Yemen's Houthi armed group has said it has launched a new missile attack on a British oil tanker in the Gulf of Aden, setting it on fire.

"Our forces today (Friday) targeted the British oil vessel Marlin Luanda in the Gulf of Aden with several naval missiles. The hit was accurate and caused a fire on the ship," Houthi military spokesman Yahya Sarea said in a statement aired by the group's al-Masirah TV.

Earlier in the day, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO), a British maritime observer agency, said it received a report of an attack on a vessel 60 nautical miles southwest of Yemen's Aden. It said two missiles exploded near a vessel, adding that the US-UK maritime coalition had responded to the attack, Xinhua news agency reported.

In an updated report, the UKMTO said the vessel was struck and caught on fire, adding that the vessel had asked for urgent help.

In the meantime, the U.S. Central Command said earlier on Friday that the Houthi group fired one anti-ship ballistic missile toward the US destroyer USS Carney in the Gulf of Aden.

"The missile was successfully shot down by USS Carney. There were no injuries or damage reported," the Central Command, which oversees US military operations in the Middle East, said in a post on X, the social media platform previously known as Twitter.

Tensions have been rising in the Red Sea, where the Houthis say their attacks on commercial vessels are in solidarity with the Palestinians, while the US and the UK, since January 12, have been launching airstrikes on Houthi targets to deter the militant group from disrupting maritime traffic.