The US navy has said a security team aboard one of its ships fired on a small boat after it (ALLEGEDLY) disregarded warnings and raced toward the vessel near the Dubai port of Jebel Ali. Lieutenant Greg Raelson, a spokesman for the US navy's Bahrain-based 5th Fleet, said sailors aboard the USNS Rappahannock issued a series of warnings before resorting to lethal force using a .50-calibre machine gun. A US consular official and an Emirati rescue official in Dubai said one person was killed and three wounded.Dozens of police and other Emirati officials crowded around the white-hulled boat, which sat docked after the incident in a small Dubai port used by fishermen and sailors.
The boat appeared to be a civilian vessel about 30ft (9 metres) long and powered by three outboard motors. Similar boats are used for fishing in the region, though Iran's Revolutionary Guard also employs relatively small, fast-moving craft in the Gulf. US military vessels routinely cross paths with Iranian ships in international waters in the Gulf without incident, but speed boats from Iran's Revolutionary Guard have passed close to US ships in incidents that have raised alarm in Washington.
The US navy's USNS Rappahannock fired on an approaching small boat after repeated warnings near the Dubai port of Jebel Ali. Photograph: Ho/AFP/Getty Images
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