Armed Somali gunmen hijacked an Indian dhow near the main port of Mogadishu late Thursday in the latest attack in a surge of piracy off the Somali coast this year, Kenya 's maritime official confirmed today.

Andrew Mwangura, coordinator of the Seafarers Assistance Program (SAP), said the pirates seized the Al Aqeeq merchant sailing vessel but the identity of the crew onboard and their nationalities have not been established.

"Indian dhow was hijacked by pirates just outside Mogadishuport on Thursday. The vessel appears to be a dhow, its size is still not known at this time," Mwangura told Xinhua by telephone early Friday.

"The number of the crew members onboard and their nationalities are not yet know. Its movement is not yet clear. We also have no information about whether the dhow was arriving or leaving the port," he said.

Hijackings and piracy have surged since last month as armed groups take advantage of a lack of law and order in the country, which has been without an effective central government since 1991.

The attacks have halted food aid deliveries to Somalia by sea, after an attempt by pirates to seize a ship chartered by the UN food relief agency.

On Sunday, the head of the World Food Programme (WFP) said their program to feed one million Somalis is under threat.

The WFP-chartered vessel was attacked on Saturday off the Somali port of Merka after it had just delivered 4,000 tons of food.

Following the attacks, agents for a ship loaded with food in Mombasa in Kenya have refused to allow the vessel to set sail for Somalia until they are given an armed escort.

"We are not taking any risks after being victims four times. We planned to go to Somali this week but following Saturday's incident our ship will not sail," said Karim Kudrat who owns MVRozen hijacked in Somalia.

The global maritime body said last week that pirates have hijacked at least seven ships off Somalia this year.

Several unsuccessful attacks have also been recently reported off Somalia's 3700 km of unpatrolled coastline.