A suspected pirate attack in the Gulf of Aden raises concerns about growing Somali piracy

JERUSALEM (AP) — A European naval force arrested six suspected pirates on Friday after they opened fire on an oil tanker traveling through the Gulf of Aden, officials said, likely part of a growing number of piracy attacks from Somalia.

The attack on the Marshall Islands-flagged Chrystal Arctic comes as Yemen’s Houthi rebels have also attacked ships passing through the crucial waterway, the Red Sea and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait that connects them. The attacks have slowed trade through the crucial sea route further to the Suez Canal and the Mediterranean.

According to the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations Center, which monitors shipping routes in the Middle East, the pirates fired on the tanker from a small ship “carrying guns and ladders.” The pirates first opened fire on the Chrystal Arctic, whose armed security team on board returned fire on them, the UKMTO said.

The pirates then gave up their attempt to hijack the tanker, which continued its journey with the entire crew safe, the UKMTO said.

Hours later, the European Union’s naval force in the region, known as Operation Atalanta, said a frigate operating in the area had arrested six suspected pirates. The frigate seized the pirates given “the unsafe condition of their boat” and said some had suffered “injuries of varying severity.”

It was not immediately clear whether the injured suffered gunshot wounds in the exchange of fire with the Chrystal Arctic. The EU force declined to elaborate “for reasons of operational security.”

Once rampant piracy off the Somali coast has declined after peaking in 2011. This year, 237 attacks have been reported in waters off Somalia. According to the monitoring group Oceans Beyond Piracy, Somali piracy in the region cost the global economy around $7 billion at the time – with $160 million paid in ransoms.

Increased naval patrols, a strengthening of the central government in Mogadishu, Somalia’s capital, and other efforts have reduced piracy.

However, concerns about new attacks have grown in recent months. According to the International Maritime Bureau, five incidents were reported off Somalia in the first quarter of 2024.

“These incidents have been attributed to Somali pirates demonstrating increasing capabilities and attacking vessels at long distances from the Somali coast,” the bureau warned in April. It added that there had been “several reports of hijacked dhows and fishing boats, which are ideal mother ships to launch attacks at greater distances from the Somali coast.”

In March, the Indian Navy arrested dozens of pirates who hijacked a bulk carrier and took its 17 crew hostage. In April, pirates released 23 crew members of the Bangladesh-flagged cargo ship MV Abdullah after seizing the ship. Terms of release are not immediately known.

These attacks come as part of the Houthi campaign, which has been targeting shipping since November, as part of its pressure campaign to stop the war between Israel and Hamas raging in the Gaza Strip.