British military reports a suspected piracy attack off the coast of Somalia

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — Several people boarded and took control of a vessel in a suspected pirate attack in the Indian Ocean nearly 700 miles (1,100 kilometers) east of Somalia’s coastal capital Mogadishu, the British military reported Tuesday.

The vessel was boarded by several people from two craft, “one large and one small,” said a statement from the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operation. “Unauthorised persons now have control of the vessel,” the statement said. It gave no other details.

British maritime security company Ambrey reported that 20 armed assailants took control of the vessel while it was going from the Mozambique capital Maputo to Hamriya in the United Arab Emirates.

Once-rampant piracy off the Somali coast diminished after a peak in 2011, but concerns about new attacks have grown in recent months.

In December, at least two incidents were reported. One involved a trading vessel seized by heavily armed people near the town of Eyl off the coast of Somalia. The other involved a Maltese-flagged merchant vessel that was hijacked in the Arabian Sea last and moved to the same area off Somalia’s coast.

The waters off Somalia saw a peak in piracy in 2011 when the U.N. said more than 160 attacks were recorded. The incidents declined drastically afterward, largely due to the presence of American and allied navies in international waters.

The Associated Press