Project Masam discovers ‘Yemen’s largest ever waterborne bomb’ in strategic Bab al Mandab
Last month, Project Masam’s demining teams discovered, and destroyed, Yemen’s largest ever waterborne bomb, which could have been used by the Houthis to target international shipping in one of the world’s key commercial routes.
Since at least 2017, Houthi militias have used sea, or naval, mines (conventional and improvised) and conducted targeted attacks using “suicide”-drone boats laden with explosives against shipping vessels along the strategic Red Sea and critical Bab al Mandab Straight.
Every year, some 24,000 vessels sail through the Bab al Mandab Straight transporting 10% of the global seaborne trade by volume, according to the Economist.
Fisherman ‘suicide-drone- boat
The basic blue wooden boat — which resembles many other civilian fishing boats sailing the Red Sea coast every day — was found unmanned and floating near the coastal Bab al Mandab village, to where fishermen dragged it back to shore. It was left untouched for a month among other fishermen boats.
With no one claiming the boat, local villagers decided to inspect the vessel and spotted wires coming from the a hole in the hull of the boat before they reported the suspicious boat to Project Masam on 18 January.
Fekri Hasan Qasim Naji, leader of Project Masam’s demining Team 28, responded to the emergency report and was first on location. His team cordoned off the area until the device was safely removed.
When he followed the wires, he discovered a huge explosive charge hidden in a large metal container (67cm long) under the painted hull boards. Six wires were connected to three electric detonators, and three switches.
According to our investigation, the device consisted of 25kg of C4 explosives and at least 50kg of TNT, as well as 25 20L petrol containers. A dedicated covered space was also found in the hull boards at the back of the vessel — presumably to contain a battery (which we believe may have been removed by locals by the time Project Masam experts arrived on site).
Local fishing community impacted
The local community given emergency Explosive Ordnance Risk Education (EORE) awareness.
“After they saw that the boat was dangerous, the fishermen were petrified, and are now scared there will find more of those when they take their boats out to fish,” Naji highlighted.
“This community depends on fishing and now they won’t sail further than a few hundred metres and won’t go to the deep sea for fear of being targeted or killed by sea mines or waterborne improvised explosive devices [IEDs]. Because of this, their trade is suffering.”
Project Masam’s EOD team was called to safely remove the IED’s explosive charge from the boat and transport it. It was demolished on 22 January.
Adib Rajad Ahmed Ali, one of Project Masam’s EOD Experts said: “When I saw the tip of the EFP [Explosively Formed Penetrator, a form of IED], it was shallow and pointed: I recognised it as a Houthi IED. [It was] Houthi-made”.
“It was the largest I have ever seen.”
Including the steel container, the charge weighed an estimated mininum of 218kg — but Ali said he believes it was closer to 250kg-300kg. The largest EFPs seen to date by Project Masam experts were circa 180mm, while the largest directional charges used by Houthis are around 257mm.
Houthi locally manufactured IED
According to our investigation, the lower quality material used in the steel container, as well as the design and the chemical precursors used to create the explosive charge, all pointed to a Houthi locally-manufactured EFP.
Ali said that, while the Houthis have been using the same type of bombs on “suicide boats” for years, this was the first time Project Masam had seen and dealt with such a large waterborne IED.
Our IED expert presumed these huge charges could be used in order to target, damage or destroy large vessels (such as warships or commercial ships) in Yemeni territorial waters. Ali explained the armed group were “matching the charge size to the target type”.
The EOD engineer added that the boat had most probably been set off from Houthi-occupied Hudaydah and was remotely-operated to sail along the coast towards Bab al-Mandab. It is suspected the battery had ran out of fuel and power, effectively leaving the explosive-packed boat to drift on its own uncontrolled.
The United Nations Panel of Experts previously said that the Houthis have been increasing “the deployment of mines against both civilian and military ships operating in the Red Sea.”
Given the “pure shaped” explosive charge and container, its size as well as the petrol containers discovered on board the boat, Project Masam found that this EFP could have had the capacity to puncture the hull of a large ship of “substantial thickness” and continue to cause damage on the inside of the ship after contact.
Indeed, depending on the stand-off distance to the device when it exploded, the blast could have easily opened up the side of a vessel’s hull and set fire to the vessel if the penetrator or heat from the explosion made contact with anything combustible, such as the petrol jerricans discovered on the fishing boat.
Further, the boat may have been designed to be directed towards a target by remote control or GPS system — a documented Houthi modus operandi.
Because the experts were not able to recover any tactical equipment or control panels aboard the rigged vessel, it is also believed the equipment either broke off due to weather, or was actively taken away to be resold by unsuspecting locals.
With many INGOs working in Mine Action leaving Yemen or cutting funding, Project Masam (which is Saudi-funded and the largest humanitarian landmine clearance project in Yemen) has committed to continue its mission to make Yemen safe again, which includes dealing with these extra-large lethal improvised weapons as well as sharing its findings to educate and inform.
Since it launched its operations in Yemen, Project Masam has cleared 7,972 IEDs around the country.
By Elsa Buchanan
