Attackers board ship off Somalia in second suspected act of piracy in days - assailants open fire
Assalamu alaikum. British officials reported that armed men using machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades boarded a vessel off Somalia on Thursday, in what is thought to be another strike by Somali pirates. The UKMTO issued an alert saying unauthorised people had come aboard a ship south-east of Eyl.
This is the second reported event this week - on Monday gunmen attacked a commercial tanker off Mogadishu and tried to board it. In response, an EU counter-piracy vessel was dispatched to the Somali coast after authorities said they were aware of the situation.
A private maritime security firm said Thursday’s target was a Malta-flagged tanker travelling from Sikka in India to Durban, and that the attackers seemed to be Somali pirates who had reportedly taken an Iranian fishing boat to use as a forward base. Iran has not confirmed the fishing vessel’s seizure. The security firm warned a Somali Pirate Action Group may be operating more than 300 nautical miles offshore.
Piracy around Somalia peaked in 2011, with hundreds of attacks that cost the global economy billions and saw ransoms paid. International naval patrols, a stronger central government in Somalia and other efforts had kept the gangs largely inactive for years, but incidents have risen again over the past year, partly linked to insecurity in the Red Sea.
The situation is worrying for crews and families of seafarers. May Allah keep travelers and workers at sea safe and guide authorities to effective measures to protect maritime routes.
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