India has reportedly deployed two naval destroyers in the Gulf of Aden, which connects the Red Sea in the West with the Arabian Sea in the East, as part of maritime security and anti-piracy operations.
The development comes a day after the US set up a multinational task force to protect merchant ships targeted by Yemenβs Houthi rebels in response to the Israel-Hamas war. Two Indian guided missile destroyers, the INS Kochi and INS Kolkata, have been tasked with monitoring and protecting merchant vessels in the Gulf of Aden, through which one-sixth of all global commercial shipping passes, Hindustan Times reported on Tuesday.
According to the report, the INS Kochi has been tasked with protecting merchant vessels against Somalian pirates at the mouth of the Red Sea, while the INS Kolkata has been stationed in the Gulf of Aden to bolster security in the area.
