Somali pirates have hijacked a Panama-flagged vessel in the Gulf of Aden with 23 crew members on board, European Union naval force confirmed on Monday.

Naval Force spokesman John Harbour said the MV Suez which was travelling in the Internationally Recommended Transit Corridor ( IRTC) was attacked early Monday. "The MV Suez, deadweight 17, 300 tonnes with a crew of 23 (Egypt, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and India Nationalities), is a Panama flagged merchant vessel with a cargo of cement bags," Harbour said.

He said the cargo vessel reported early Monday being under small arms fire from a pirate attack and minutes later she reported pirates on board.

"After notification of the attack, attempts were made to make contact with the MV Suez but to no avail. Immediately after the first report a helicopter was directed to the ship but pirates had already taken over the command of the vessel," Harbour said.

The EU anti-piracy mission said it was monitoring the situation which came barely a week after the pirates released Turkish owned ship with 21 crew members after four months in captivity.

The Horn of Africa nation's coastline is considered one of the world's most dangerous stretches of water because of piracy.

Somalia is at the entrance to the Gulf of Aden, which leads to the Red Sea and the Suez Canal, one of the world's most important shipping channels.

The country has been plagued by factional fighting between warlords and hasn't had a functioning central administration since the 1991 ouster of former dictator Mohammed Siad Barre.

International military officials have vowed to fight Somali pirates who have moved into the waters off the coast of East Africa, as attacks begin to decrease.

Crews have been successfully repelling more attacks, making it harder for pirates to capture ships and earn multi-million-dollar ransoms. But the pirates have responded more violently.

Many ship owners are investing in physical defences like stringing razor wire and adding fire hoses that can hit attackers with streams of high-pressure water. Some ships are even having electric fence-style systems installed.