KUALA LUMPUR: Somali pirates seized a Greek tanker and separately attacked a World Food Programme-chartered ship, a maritime piracy watchdog said on Saturday.

Noel Choong, head of the International Maritime Bureau’s (IMB) Piracy Reporting Centre in Kuala Lumpur, told AFP that pirates boarded the Greek chemical tanker Friday at 1330 GMT. “Pirates attacked the ship flying a Panama flag using boats,” he said. Choong said the tanker was hijacked in the notorious Gulf of Aden waterway.

On Thursday, pirates attempted to board a WFP ship off Mogadishu, he said, adding the “captain took anti-piracy action and managed to escape.”

According to the IMB, 69 ships have been attacked off Somalia since January, 27 were hijacked and 11 are still being held for ransom. Pirates are holding more than 200 crew members.

Choong said IMB had issued a fresh warning to ships to maintain strict anti-piracy watch since the waters off Somalia were too wide for coalition forces to provide security.