NAIROBI, May 8 (Xinhua) -- Somali pirates have released a commercial ship they hijacked last month off the coast of the Horn of Africa country, killing a crew member and wounding two others, Kenya's maritime official confirmed on Monday.

    Andrew Mwangura, the coordinator of the Kenyan Chapter of the Seafarers Assistance Program, said the pirates released the MV Al-Taj, its ten Indian crew late Saturday from where the ship had been held near the port of Haradhere, about 400 km north of Mogadishu.

    "The Al-Taj ship was released on Saturday night. We have also information that a crew member was killed while two others were wounded during the hijacking," he said.

    Mwangura, who is tracking Somali maritime activities from the neighboring Kenya, said the ship has returned to its home port in the United Arab Emirates after the businessman who contracted it paid 25,000 U.S. dollars for the vessel's release.

    Somalia waters have become the most dangerous in the world since warlords ousted military dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991 ushering in an era of anarchy in the Horn of Africa country.

    Piracy has become an epidemic in the unpatrolled waters off the coast of Somalia where at least 40 hijackings and attempted seizures have been recorded since mid March last year.

    The Horn of Africa nation has no coast guard to protect vessels. But in the past two months, U.S. Navy ships have confronted two groups of pirates, killing one person and injuring five others. One group of pirates the U.S. navy confronted is now facing trial in Kenya.

    Last week, Kenya launched a maritime rescue center to provide a rapid response to acts of piracy and accidents at sea, particularly in the pirates-infested waters of the Somali coast.

    The Regional Maritime Rescue Coordination Center opened in Kenya's coastal city of Mombasa last Friday would combat the increasing attacks on shipping in the Indian Ocean off the coast of neighboring Somalia. Enditem