Yemeni coast guards have seized a boat they which illegally entered the country's territorial waters and detained five Iranians on board, the Interior Ministry said Wednesday. Earlier this week, local press reports said the boat captured on Monday was Iranian and suspected of smuggling arms to Shiite rebels battling government troops in the north of Yemen.

But the ministry statement only said the boat was intercepted after illegally entering Yemeni territorial waters off the western coast. It was escorted to a naval base on a nearby island and the crew — five Iranians and one Indian — were being questioned, the statement said, according to the AP. Iran's state media denied an Iranian boat had been seized in Yemen.

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