Pirates hijack Turkish ship off Somalia coast

Pirates have hijacked a Turkish ship with 20 crew members off the coast of Somalia, officials said Thursday.

The MV Yasa Neslihan freighter was boarded in the Gulf of Aden on Wednesday, the International Maritime Bureau in Malaysia said, confirming news reports in Turkey.

Pirates also attempted to hijack an Italian-operated general cargo ship with 26 crew on Tuesday in the same area but the ship managed to escape with unspecified aggressive manoeuvres, said Noel Choong, spokesman for the bureau.

The Yasa Neslihan, which is registered in the Marshall Islands but managed and operated in Turkey, was carrying iron ore from Canada to China, according to Turkey's state-run Anatolia news agency.

Turkey asked NATO forces to help end the hijacking off Somalia, an area where pirates often attack ships, Anatolia said.

NATO sent three ships over the weekend into the Gulf of Aden, one of the world's busiest shipping lanes, for anti-piracy patrols and to escort cargo vessels. Several U.S. Navy 5th Fleet warships also have also been deployed off the Horn of Africa.

"Pirate attacks are still continuing in the region, despite additional security measures. It is worrying," Choong told the Associated Press.

The Yasa Neslihan crisis raised the number of attacks on ships in the African waters this year to 77. Thirty-one ships have been hijacked, and 10 remain in the hands of pirates along with nearly 200 crew members, Choong said.

Among the ships still in piratehandsis the MV Faina, an arms-laden Ukrainian cargo vessel, whose 20 crew members that have been held captive by Somali pirates since the end of September.

The hijacking of that ship has drawn particular concern from the international community due to its potentially dangerous cargo 33 Soviet-designedtanks and an array of heavy weapons.

The pirates who hold the Faina said Monday that its operator wants to negotiate only for the release of the vessel and crew of 20 and not its cargo.

U.S. navy ships have surrounded it for a month to be sure the cargo does not get into the hands of insurgent groups linked to al-Qaeda.

Each year, about 20,000 vessels pass through the Gulf of Aden, which links the Indian Ocean with the Suez Canal and the Mediterranean Sea, and there recently has been an increase of piracy off Somalia.

The country is caught up in an Islamic insurgency and has no functioning government, no navy and no coast guard to police its coast.

This week the European Union announced details of its planned anti-piracy patrols off Somalia's coast, saying at least four warships backed by aircraft would begin policing the dangerous waters in December.

The EU flotilla will eventually take over patrolling the area from NATO ships, which began escorting vessels on Monday.