TEHRAN, Iran – Iranian state television is reporting 14 crew members from a fishing boat have been kidnapped by the Islamic militant group al-Shabab off the coast of Somalia.
On Wednesday night, the television station's scrolling news bar announced the kidnapping, saying the vessel owned by an Iranian fishing organization suffered a technical fault near the Somali coast.
The station said the kidnapping happened Wednesday without elaborating. The Somali militants did not immediately claim responsibility for the abductions.
Al-Shabab is a Somalia-based extremist group with ties to al-Qaida.
Piracy off the coast of Somalia once was a serious threat to the global shipping industry, but attacks have dropped dramatically the last several years after ships began carrying armed guards.
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