SANAA, April 27 (Xinhua) -- Yemen's Houthi group said early Saturday that they had launched a missile attack and hit a British oil tanker in the Red Sea and shot down a U.S. drone in northern Yemen.

"Our naval forces (on Friday) targeted a British oil ship, Andromeda Star, in the Red Sea with a number of appropriate naval missiles and hit it directly," Houthi military spokesman Yahya Sarea read a statement in the Houthi-run al-Masirah TV channel.

"On Thursday, our air defense forces succeeded in shooting down an American MQ9 aircraft in the airspace of Saada Governorate (northern Yemen), while it was carrying out hostile missions and it was targeted by a suitable missile," he said.

"We confirm that we will continue to carry out more military operations in support of the Palestinian people until the Israeli siege and aggression against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip stop," the spokesman said.

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations Agency reported on its website that a ship was damaged off Yemen after a missile attack on Friday. It didn't identify the ship nor gave further details.

The Houthis have been targeting Israeli-linked ships or ships heading to Israeli ports in the Red Sea since November last year in solidarity with Palestinians engaged in conflict with Israel.

A coalition of U.S. and British naval forces in the Red Sea has been launching airstrikes on Houthi military targets since January, which were responded to by the Houthis with more intensified attacks that targeted the coalition's warships.