Armed Somali pirates have kidnapped a fishing vessel owned by Omani company at Gara,ad coastline on Mudug region of Puntland semiautonomous on Saturday.

The ship and its crew were driven to Eyl coast of Nugal region by the hijackers.

The ship with trawl plus fish refrigerator kidnapped by unidentified six heavily armed pirates and no comments was available from the pirates seized the vessel and Oman authorities regarding on this matter.

There were 269 acts of piracy, up from 239 in 2006 and reversing a downtrend seen since 2003, according to the International Maritime Bureau (IMB).

It also revealed yesterday that pirates were becoming more violent - and are now more likely to use guns.

Last year, 18 vessels were hijacked, while 292 crew members were taken hostage, five were killed and three are still missing.