Kuala Lumpur: Pirates fired grenade launchers and machine guns at a cargo ship in the Indian Ocean far off the coast of Somalia, sparking concerns that key shipping routes are threatened, a Malaysia-based maritime watchdog said yesterday.
The Qatar-flagged cargo ship, Ibn Younus, managed to escape during an hour-long chase as it headed from Durban in South Africa to Jebel Ali in Dubai after it was attacked on Monday, said Noel Choong, head of the International Maritime Bureau's piracy reporting centre in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Choong said piracy was on the rise again in Somalia with Monday's attack the fifth since April. Three men in a speed boat, armed with machine guns and grenade launchers, approached the ship and ordered it to stop, he said.
The Qatar-flagged cargo ship, Ibn Younus, managed to escape during an hour-long chase as it headed from Durban in South Africa to Jebel Ali in Dubai after it was attacked on Monday, said Noel Choong, head of the International Maritime Bureau's piracy reporting centre in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Choong said piracy was on the rise again in Somalia with Monday's attack the fifth since April. Three men in a speed boat, armed with machine guns and grenade launchers, approached the ship and ordered it to stop, he said.