March 26 (Reuters) - Houthi militants in Yemen said on

Tuesday they had mounted six attacks on ships with drones and

missiles in the last 72 hours in the Gulf of Aden and the Red

Sea, but one of the companies named, Denmark's Maersk, denied

its vessel had been targeted.

The Houthis said they attacked the Maersk Saratoga, APL

Detroit, and the Huang Pu after identifying them as either U.S.

or British, in addition to Pretty Lady ship which they claim was

heading to Israel, the group's military spokesperson Yahya Sarea

said in a statement.

Maersk denied that the Saratoga had been

attacked.

"We can confirm that no such incident was reported by the

vessel, which is currently safely continuing her normal journey

far from the mentioned location," the company said in a

statement.

Maersk Saratoga is part of Maersk Line, Limited (MLL) which

is the Danish company's U.S. subsidiary that carries significant

amounts of cargo for the Department of Defense, Department of

State, USAID, and other U.S. government agencies.

The Houthis, who control Yemen's capital and most populous

areas, have attacked international shipping in the Red Sea since

November in what they say is solidarity with Palestinians,

drawing U.S. and British retaliatory strikes since last month.

Sarea added that the group also attacked two U.S destroyers

in the Red Sea as well as Israel's city of Eilat.

It was not immediately clear which, if any, of the targets

were struck by the drones or missiles.

U.S Central Command said on Sunday that Houthis fired

missiles in the vicinity of M/V Huang Pu, a Chinese-owned oil

tanker.

According to LSEG data, APL Detroit is a Singaporean-flagged

container, while Pretty Lady is a Malta-flagged handymax ship.

The Houthis' escalating drone and missile campaign against

commercial shipping has choked trade through the vital Suez

Canal linking Asia and Europe and forced many ships to take the

longer route around Africa.

(Reporting by Ahmed Elimam and Clauda Tanios in Dubai;

Addititional reporting by Stine Jacobsen in Copenhagen; Editing

by Andrew Heavens, Jason Neely, Angus MacSwan and Ros Russell)