Suspected pirates hijack fuel tanker off Somalia’s coast

Suspected Somali pirates hijacked a fuel tanker off the northeastern coast of Somalia, according to a local official and the British military.

The vessel was seized on Wednesday in waters between the coastal towns of Hafun and Bandarbeyla in the semi-autonomous state of Puntland along the Indian Ocean. The tanker had departed from the port of Berbera and was heading to the Somali capital of Mogadishu when it was intercepted, a colonel with the Puntland Maritime Police Force told The Associated Press. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to a journalist.

That official said six armed men from the Bandarbeyla district carried out the hijacking. The British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations also issued a statement reporting a hijacking incident off the Somali coast. It said unauthorised people took control of the tanker and were maneuvering it “south within Somali territorial waters”.