Somali pirates have hijacked a Syrian-owned bulk carrier with 25 crew members in the north Arabian Sea, the European Union (EU) anti-piracy mission said Friday.

EU Naval Force spokesman Paddy O'Kennedy said the Togo-flagged MV Khaled Muhieddine, which has a deadweight of 24,022 tons, was seized late on Thursday at approximately 330 nautical miles southeast of the Omani coastal port of Salalah, with 22 Syrians and three Egyptians on board.

"Authorities were made aware of the attack when the master reported being fired upon and seeing pirates on board. Then all contact with the vessel was lost," he said.

The naval force spokesman said the registered vessel was on passage from Singapore to Al Hudaydah, in Yemen.

The Gulf of Aden, a body of water between Somalia and Yemen, is the main sea route between Europe and Asia.

Tankers carrying Middle East oil through the Suez Canal must first pass through the Gulf of Aden.

Pirate gangs operating along Somalia's 1,900-mile-long (3,100 km) coastline have become increasingly brazen over the past two years, hijacking dozens of merchant ships and their crews to earn ransoms.

So far the fledgling Somali government has not been able to go after the pirate strongholds, since pirate leaders have more power than the beleaguered Somali government.