Ship off Iraq hit by projectiles

“Two projectiles hit a container vessel in the Gulf as it was leaving port in Iraq, a Swiss-based company said Tuesday, after Iran's Revolutionary Guards said they had targeted the ship. Both the company MSC, based in Geneva, and the British maritime security agency UKMTO reported no injuries to crew members in Monday's incident. In Iran, a spokesman for the Revolutionary Guards said Monday they had targeted the Panama-flagged MSC Sariska V 'belonging to the American-Zionist enemy' with a cruise missile. The spokesman said the container ship was targeted in retaliation for a US attack on the Iranian vessel Lion Star in the Sea of Oman. The UKMTO said the vessel was 40 nautical miles off the Iraqi port of Umm Qasr when the initial explosion occurred on Monday. MSC said that the first projectile hit the vessel as it was leaving port with the pilot still on board, and the second impacted the crew area soon afterwards. In a statement, MSC said it 'is a neutral commercial carrier with no affiliation to the US or Israel'. It said all crew members were safe and unharmed.

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