UKMTO Reports Suspicious Encounter off Yemen

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) agency said on Monday it received a report of an incident 150 nautical miles northwest of Yemen's Hodeidah.

"The Master of the vessel reported that they were hailed by an entity claiming to be Yemini Navy who requested the vessel turn on its automatic identification system," an advisory note said.

"Shortly after the hailing, a crew member of the vessel reported that they heard suspected gun shots," the advisory note added.

Months of Red Sea attacks by Yemen's Houthi militants have disrupted global shipping, forcing firms to re-route to longer and more expensive journeys around southern Africa, and stoked fears that the Israel-Hamas war could spread to destabilise the wider Middle East.

The United States and Britain have launched strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen and redesignated the militia as a terrorist group.

(Reuters - Reporting by Adam Makary; Editing by Stephen Coates)