A missile fired by Yemen’s Houthi rebels hit a bulk carrier in the Gulf of Aden on Wednesday, with the crew reporting three people killed and at least four wounded, AFP quoted the US military as saying.

An anti-ship ballistic missile struck the Barbados-flagged, Liberian-owned M/V True Confidence, after which its crew reported “three fatalities, at least four injuries, of which three are in critical condition, and significant damage to the ship”, the US Central Command (Centcom) said in a statement.

“The crew abandoned the ship and coalition warships responded and are assessing the situation,” it said, noting that the attack was the fifth time the Houthis had launched an anti-ship ballistic missile in two days.

“These reckless attacks by the Houthis have disrupted global trade and taken the lives of international seafarers,” Centcom said.

Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree wrote on social media that the True Confidence was targeted with multiple missiles “after the ship’s crew rejected warning messages” from the Houthis.

Centcom said several hours after the True Confidence was hit that it had carried out strikes against “two unmanned aerial vehicles in a Houthi-controlled area of Yemen that presented an imminent threat to merchant vessels and US Navy ships”.