MOGADISHU, Somalia, Aug. 21 (UPI) -- Pirates hijacked two more ships off the coast of Somalia Thursday, the latest of several attacks in the area.
A ship sailing under an Iranian flag was fired at and boarded around mid-afternoon, Noel Chong, head of the International Chamber of Commerce's Piracy Reporting Center, told CNN.
Pirates grabbed another ship, operating under a Japanese flag, a few minutes later, he said.
Somalia is reputed to be the world's most active piracy hotspot with 24 attacks reported in the first half of this year.
The latest attacks came two days after pirates boarded a Malaysian tanker off the Somalian coast and continued to hold it, Chong said.
Pirate attacks are frequent in the waters off Somalia, a notoriously unsafe area for unescorted vessels. Canada announced this month that it was sending a warship to the area to protect United Nations aid ships.
