Somali regional authorities on Wednesday despatched forces to attempt to rescue a Panama-flagged cargo freighter that was hijacked by pirates over the weekend, officials said.

The Dutch-owned MV Amiya Scan along with its nine-strong Russian and Filipino crew was hijacked in the Gulf of Aden on Sunday, the latest in a string of attacks off the coast of the lawless African nation.

"They are holding the ship in the coastal area of Ras Binnah and decision is to rescue it by force. Our forces are already on the way," said Bile Mohamed, an advisor to Puntland President Ade Musse.

Ras Binnah is a coastal area about 250 kilometres east of the Puntland port of Bosasso.

Another Puntland official confirmed the deployment, but urged the vessel's owners Dutch Reider Shipping not to yield to any ranson demands.

"We ordered our forces to go to mission to rescue the ship by force. We have asked the ship's owner not to pay ransom," said Ahmed Said Ownur, fisheries and water resources minister for Puntland, a breakaway region in northeastern Somalia.

Musse blamed shipping companies' readiness to cough up for the piracy problem, saying their response has exacerbated a longstanding problem, officials said.

In April, Puntland forces rescued a hijacked vessel from the United Arab Emirates. At least one pirate was killed during the raid while seven were arrested and later sentenced to life in prison.

In the same month, pirates seized a French luxury yacht with its crew of 30, and later a Spanish fishing boat. Both were released after a week with reports that heavy ransoms were paid.

The waters off Somalia, which has not had an effective central government for more than 17 years, are considered to be among the most dangerous in the world.

According to the International Maritime Bureau, more than 25 ships were seized off Somalia's 3700 kilometres of coastline last year despite patrols by an international force based in Djibouti.

These kind of attacks had stopped in the second half of 2006 during six months of strict rule by Islamist militants, who were ousted by Ethiopian and Somali government troops in early 2007. Then piracy resumed.

But over recent months, a multinational Combined Joint Task Force Horn of Africa (CTF 150), based in Djibouti and charged with fighting terrorism across the volatile region, has upped surveillance in the pirate-infested waters.

France and the United States are pushing the UN Security Council to pass a resolution that would allow nations to send warships to Somalia to combat piracy.

Technically, the 1992 United Nations arms embargo on Somalia bars foreign navies and warships from accessing Somalia waters, but some nations have nontheless violated it.

Last week, Islamist militants who have re-gained strength in Somalia vowed to resume fighting pirates.

Somalia, which lies at the mouth of the Red Sea, has been without an effective government since the 1991 ouster of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre sparked a bloody power struggle.

AFP