Suspected Somali pirates have hijacked a Yemeni-flagged fishing boat off the semi-autonomous Puntland region in northeast Somalia, the EU's anti-piracy naval force said, the second such incident in as many months.

Seven pirates boarded the vessel, which was carrying eight Somali crew members, EU NAVFOR said on Monday.

“The incident is under investigation and has been classified as hijack,” it said.

In February, another Yemeni-flagged fishing vessel was hijacked in the same waters, the naval force said, before it was abandoned by alleged pirates.

Somali pirates caused havoc in the waters off the Horn of Africa nation's long coastline between 2008 and 2018. They had been dormant until late 2023, when pirate activity started to pick up again.