KUALA LUMPUR- Armed pirates in speedboats ambushed two ships off Somalia's coast Saturday but failed to hijack them after one of the vessels sped away and the other was rescued by a military patrol aircraft, an official said.

Pirates first attacked a Japanese operated ship with a crew of 20 in the Gulf of Aden, as the ship was heading to the Middle East from Singapore, said Noel Choong, head of the International Maritime Bureau's piracy reporting center in Kuala Lumpur. The ship's crew was safe and no one was injured in the hour long chase, Choong said.

"Two speed boats chased and opened fire at the Japanese operated ship. A suspected mother ship was in the vicinity. But the Japanese ship managed to escape after the captain increased speed and took evasive maneuvers," he said.

A Liberian cargo ship was attacked three hours later in the same manner by armed pirates in two speedboats, Choong said. The ship's captain called the piracy center in Kuala Lumper, which alerted a naval patrol force in the area, he added. Choong said a military aircraft rushed to the scene and managed to scare off the pirates.

The military aircraft was part of the multinational naval force currently deployed in the area, but Choong declined to give details about the type of aircraft and which country it belonged to.

Choong said the pirates in both attacks were believed to be part of the same group.

The attempted hijacks came just days after pirates seized four other vessels - Malaysian, Iranian, Japanese and German - in the Gulf of Aden off the Somali coast. On Tuesday, pirates seized a Malaysian palm oil tanker with 39 crew in the Gulf of Aden. Two days later, they hijacked an Iranian bulk carrier with 29 crew, a Japanese operated chemical tanker with 19 crew and a German operated cargo ship with nine crew in the same area.

'It appears pirates are still trying to hijack ships in the location," Choong said. He said the United Nations and the international community must take action to secure the area.

Somalia is the world's piracy hotspot. Thirty out of 36 attacks on ships off Somalia's coast have occurred in the Gulf of Aden, a busy waterway connecting the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean.

The latest attacks have raised alarm among seafarers using the key shipping route. The International Maritime Bureau has issued an urgent warning to ships to be on strict watch, Choong said.

Source : AP