Mogadishu (KAAB TV) – A group of Somali pirates is said to have seized a fishing boat from Yemen while it was passing outside the Horn of Africa.
The European naval operation in the Middle East, known as EUNAVFOR Atalanta, said the incident was still under investigation.
It said the attack targeted a Doon, a traditional Middle Eastern vessel, outside the Somali town of Eyl.
Marine security company Ambrey said the attack saw the suspects steal three small boats equipped with 60-horsepower engines. Ambrey said early Tuesday morning “a group of suspected pirates was seen” leaving Eyl Beach.
Piracy, which once flourished off the coast of Somalia, has declined after peaking in 2011. That year, 237 attacks were reported in Somali waters. Somali piracy in the region at the time cost the world economy about $7 billion – with $160 million paid in ransom, according to the monitoring group Oceans Beyond Piracy.
Increased international maritime patrols, central government reinforcements in Mogadishu, Somalia’s capital, and other efforts have seen piracy hit back.
The Somali pirate attacks started at a rapid pace last year, as part of the insecurity that the Houthi rebels in Yemen started in the Red Sea passage of the war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
In 2024, there were seven reported incidents in Somalia, according to the International Maritime Bureau.