Pirates hijack two ships off Somali coast, says maritime official

Nairobi: Somali pirates seized two freighters off the lawless Horn of African coast bringing to three the number of ships hijacked this week, a Kenyan maritime official said on Friday.

"The two ships were hijacked on Wednesday," Andrew Mwangura, head of the Kenya-based Seafarers Assistance Program.

He said there was little information available on the seized vessels, Arean and Lehmann Timber, other than where they were registered and who their owners were.

Local officials said the two ships were commandeered towards the Ras Bina area in the relatively peaceful Puntland region where pirates were also holding a Dutch-owned ship seized over the weekend along with its Russian and Filipino crew.

In the latest of such attacks, residents of the south-central town of Baidoa, 245 km (152 miles) southwest of Mogadishu, said on Friday suspected Islamists hurled a grenade at a house belonging to a lawmaker in the interim government, badly wounding his family.