A court sketch made on November 16, 2011 at Paris courthouse during their trial, shows three of six alleged Somali pirates accused of taking a French couple hostage on their yacht off the coast of Somalia in 2008 . [AFP]
Somali pirates used a previously hijacked ship to seize their latest target, security officials said, while their families told AFP they were partly driven by the impact of illegal fishing trawlers.
A new group of pirates from the semi-autonomous Puntland region have led a resurgence of attacks on shipping since April after more than a decade in which the issue was contained by heightened international security measures.
On Monday, the Cameroon-flagged cargo ship, Lutuf, was hijacked by eight gunmen, who launched the attack from a ship they seized in April, the MV Sward, Puntland security officials told AFP.
There were already four merchant vessels held hostage in Somali waters and the pirates used the Sward to hijack two Iranian fishing boats last month that were released after ransoms were paid.
It's a tactic that was used often during the height of Somali piracy in the late 2000s and early 2010s.
The security officials expressed surprise that the Lutuf had travelled within three nautical miles of the Somali coast given the spate of attacks.