NAIROBI, Jan. 2 (Xinhua) -- Somali pirates have hijacked an Egyptian cargo ship carrying 6,000 tons of fertilizer, a regional maritime official confirmed on Friday.

    Andrew Mwangura, East Africa's Coordinator of Seafarers Assistance Program, said the Blue Star with 28 crew members, was hijacked after passing through the Red Sea and entering the Gulf of Aden early on Thursday.

    "The Somali pirates who hijacked the Egyptian ship have taken the vessel toward the Somali coast," Mwangura told Xinhua by telephone.

    The latest incident came after the Somali pirates seized an Egyptian ship with 25 crew in September and held them for about a month before freeing them.

    Maritime sources said about 15 pirates, some of them heavily-armed, attacked the Blue Star near Bab al-Mandab as it was heading for east

    Piracy off the coast of Somalia in 2008 has earned gunmen millions of dollars in ransom and hiked shipping insurance costs.

    The seizures have prompted some of the world's biggest shipping firms to switch routes from the Suez Canal and send cargo vessels around southern Africa instead, which have pushed up the cost of commodities and manufactured goods.