Somali pirates kill five crew on board hijacked oil tanker, officials say

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Somali pirates killed five crew members on board the hijacked MT Honour 25 tanker before it was rescued by security forces, Somalia's semi-autonomous state of Puntland says.

The deaths aboard the Palau-flagged ship appear to be the first at the hands of Somali pirates in over a decade.

The ship with 17 crew members was seized by pirates in April during a resurgence of Somali piracy that experts have attributed, in part, to impacts of the Iran war, including elevated oil ​prices that make tankers ⁠more attractive targets.

Puntland's information ministry said in a statement that a rescue mission had successfully freed the ship and captured 16 pirates.

"Before the operation began, the pirates on board the ship killed five of the crew," it said.

Four crew members - three Pakistanis and one Indian - were also injured, the statement said.

The rescue follows another rescue mission last week, when Puntland's maritime police force freed the US-sanctioned tanker Sibu 1, which Somali pirates had hijacked in August.

Puntland's Maritime Police Force (PMPF) said late on Tuesday that it had also rescued an oil tanker called MT Eureka, which had been hijacked in May off ​the coast ​of Shabwa province, after its hijackers fled when police approached the vessel.

"As PMPF forces approached the area, the pirates fled towards the shore and moved inland," it said.

"PMPF forces continue to pursue the individuals involved and are conducting further operations to apprehend those who escaped."

Egypt's foreign ministry said on Wednesday that eight Egyptian crew members who were on the hijacked tanker have been released.

The two rescues bring the total to five out of the six ships held by pirates off the Somali coast as of late August that have now been freed.

A previous wave of piracy from 2008 to 2014 disrupted one of the world's busiest shipping routes, cost the global economy billions of dollars and resulted in hundreds of millions of dollars in ransom payments.