Japan launched an investigation Wednesday into a suspected militant attack on one of its oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz last month, calling the blast an "extremely grave" incident.

The government said it had set up a special committee formed by the Self-Defense Forces, coastguard, diplomatic, police and other government officials.

The United Arab Emirates said this month it believed that an explosives-laden boat had struck the M Star in a "terrorist attack" that dented the hull of the Japanese vessel and left one crew member slightly injured.

Militant jihadists have made unconfirmed claims that a suicide bomber attacked the ship, owned by Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Ltd. (9104.TO) and crewed by 16 Filipinos and 15 Indians, on July 28 in international waters between Iran and Oman .

"It was extremely grave that such an act was carried out and that the incident occurred" in a sea passage used by more than 80% of Japanese oil tankers, Transport Minister Seiji Maehara told the investigative body.

"We have to work hard to verify the cause of the incident."

As the committee launched its probe, the Transport Ministry reported that the tanker's Voyage Data Recorder had captured radar images that showed a small vessel making suspicious movements nearby around the time of the blast.

The small boat was sailing away from the tanker before it "made a U-turn toward the tanker and then disappeared off the radar for three and a half minutes before the blast," an official said.

The ministry also reported that the tanker suffered sizeable damage above and below the waterline, and the official added that "extraneous material" had been recovered from the blast area.

The Strait of Hormuz , less than 100 kilometers across at its widest point, is the gateway to the oil-rich Gulf and a vital shipping route through which an estimated 40% of global oil exports pass.

The coastguard of the UAE, where the ship docked for repairs after the incident, said on Aug. 6 that an investigation had found "remains of homemade explosives on the hull" and that it suspected a "terrorist attack."

U.S. monitoring group SITE Intelligence has said the group Brigades of Abdullah Azzam claimed in a message on jihadist websites that it had placed a suicide bomber on the tanker, identifying him as Ayyub al-Taishan.

It said the attack was carried out in the name of Omar Abdul Rahman, the Egyptian "blind sheikh" imprisoned in the U.S. for his role in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing in New York .

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