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Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia: An official says pirates have seized a German ship off the coast of Somalia, the third hijacking in a day.
Noel Choong of the International Maritime Bureau says the German-operated cargo ship was seized at 0900 GMT on Thursday in the Gulf of Aden off the Somalian coast.
He says the hijacking occurred hours after a Japanese-operated tanker and an Iranian ship off the coast of Somalia were hijacked in the same area.
Choong says three hijackings in a days "is unheard of." So far seven ships have been hijacked in the important African shipping lane since July 20.
Choong, who heads IMB's piracy reporting centre in Kuala Lumpur, strongly urged the United Nations "to take serious action to stop this menace."
Earlier, pirates hijacked an Iranian bulk carrier and a Japanese-operated tanker.
That came after a Malaysian tanker carrying 39 crew and laden with palm oil was hijacked in the same area on Wednesday.
"Both ships were attacked and hijacked this morning," said Choong.
Andrew Mwangura of the East African Seafarers' Assistance Programme, identified the Japanese tanker as the MT Irene and said it was carrying 16 Filipino crew, two Russians and a Croat.
There was no immediate information on the Iranian vessel.
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