(Adds Egypt's confirmation, Somali minister) By Abdiqani Hassan BOSASSO, Somalia, Sept 4 (Reuters) - Somali pirates have hijacked yet another ship and are taking it and a French yacht with two French nationals aboard to their remote coastal base, a regional government official said on Thursday. Gunmen from the Horn of Africa nation are currently holding about 10 vessels for ransom at Eyl, a lawless former fishing outpost now used by gangs behind a sharp rise in attacks at sea. They are already demanding more than $9 million to free two Malaysian tankers, a Japanese-managed bulk carrier and a Nigerian tug boat held there. "The pirates are sailing to Eyl with the French yacht and another Egyptian ship that they hijacked last night," Hassan Muse Alore, the minister for minerals in northern Somalia's Puntland region, told Reuters by telephone from Eyl. Egypt's foreign ministry confirmed an Egyptian ship was seized, state news agency MENA said. Egypt was working through its embassy in Kenya to identify the ship and its crew, MENA reported, although no one had yet taken responsibility for the seizure. RIGHT OF PURSUIT Heavily armed gangs have taken at least 30 vessels so far this year in the Gulf of Aden, making the shipping lanes between Somalia and Yemen the most dangerous in the world. Late on Tuesday, pirates seized a French yacht with two French citizens onboard, the French Foreign Ministry said. It said a U.N. Security Council resolution in June gave France the right to pursue the pirates into Somali waters, but that it had to consider the best way to save the hostages. In April, French commandos launched a helicopter raid to arrest six Somali pirates after they freed the 30-strong crew of a luxury yacht they had hijacked days earlier. French navy spokesman Commander Christophe Prazuck said on Thursday the country's military forces based in neighbouring Djibouti would readily intervene but that the safety of the captives was most important. "One thing at a time. Today we have to remain discreet ... in order to ensure the safety of our fellow countrymen." Somali regional officials say the hefty ransoms paid out by ship owners are fuelling corruption and an explosion of piracy offshore that they are unable to contain. "We have no power to control the multiplying numbers of pirates," Ahmed Saed Ow-Nur, Puntland's minister for fisheries and marine resources, told Reuters. "Even some of the Puntland police are involved in piracy, because they can make a hell of a lot of money." He asked shipping companies and governments not to pay up. "If pirates got this money they are demanding, it will make it more dangerous to the international community," he said. "We request governments to attack the pirates. We welcome that." (Additional reporting by Lucien Libert in Paris, writing by Daniel Wallis in Nairobi; editing by Mark Trevelyan)
Lauren Booth (R), sister of the former British prime minister's wife Cherie, walks in Gaza city September 3, 2008. Middle East peace envoy Tony Blair's sister-in-law, who arrived in Gaza with ...
