Somali pirates fail to seize ship

Somali pirates armed with rocket-propelled grenades and automatic weapons attacked a Dutch-operated container ship off the coast of Tanzania, but failed to hijack the vessel, a maritime official said today.

The attack showed the pirates are becoming bolder and extending their reach further from their base in Somalia, said Noel Choong, who heads the International Maritime Bureau's piracy reporting centre in Kuala Lumpur.