Piracy Attacks on the Rise

According to the London-based International Maritime Bureau, maritime piracy attacks rose 14 percent in the first nine months of 2007 from a year earlier, with Somalia and Nigeria showing the biggest increases.

The Associated Press reports that:

While Africa remains problematic, Southeast Asia's Malacca Strait, one of the world's busiest waterways, has been relatively quiet, the International Maritime Bureau said in a report.

A total of 198 attacks on ships were reported between January and September this year, up from 174 in the same period in 2006, the IMB said.

It said a total of 15 vessels were hijacked, 63 crew kidnapped and three killed.

"If this current trend continues, it would appear that the decline in piracy attacks since 2004 has bottomed out," it warned.

Indonesia remained the world's worst piracy hotspot, with 37 attacks in the first nine months of 2007 - but this was an improvement from 40 in the same period a year earlier, the IMB said.

But attacks rose drastically in Somalia to 26 reported cases, up from only 8 a year earlier, it said. Nigeria also suffered 26 attacks so far this year, up from 9 previously, it added.

IMB director Pottengal Mukundan urged ships to stay as far as possible from the coasts of Somalia and Nigeria, which remained very dangerous with large numbers of violent kidnappings.

"The level of violence in high risk areas remain unacceptable. Pirates in Somalia are operating with impunity, seizing vessels hundreds of miles off the coast and holding the vessel and crew to ransom, making no attempt to hide their activity," he said.

Only four attacks were reported in the Malacca Strait this year, compared to 8 in the same period in 2006, thanks to increased cooperation between states straddling the waterway, the IMB said.