Saudi authorities said on Wednesday they had intercepted an unmanned boat rigged with explosives that was sent by Yemeni Houthis to target an oil plant on the kingdom’s southwestern coast.

The boat, sent from a small island off the Yemeni coast, was targeting a petroleum products distribution terminal run by Saudi oil giant Aramco when it was intercepted on Tuesday, the interior ministry said in a statement carried by the SPA state news agency.

“The boat was spotted when it departed from a small island in Yemeni waters and gained speed after entering Saudi waters,” the ministry said.

After determining that the boat was unmanned, a coast guard unit opened fire on its engine and stopped 2.8 kilometres from the terminal in the southern Jazan region, the statement said.

The boat was loaded with “strong explosive material,” it said.

The ministry vowed to foil all “terrorist attempts” against the kingdom and to “reach those behind them from the Houthi militias.”

A video uploaded on Instagram on April 25 purportedly shows an Arab coalition warplane destroying a bomb-laden boat off Jizan, in Saudi Arabia. Its authenticity cannot be immediately verified.

Saudi Arabia is leading an Arab coalition that in March 2015 launched a military campaign against Iran-backed Yemeni Houthis in support of President AbdrRabbo Mansour Hadi.

-AFP

-File photo