Pirates had killed a captain as the Somali forces stormed the hijacked Panama-flagged cargo vessel in northern part of the Horn of Africa region, a regional maritime official confirmed on Thursday.

Andrew Mwangura, the East Africa Coordinator of Seafarers Assistance Program (SAP) said the incident took place when soldiers from Puntland region stormed the MV QSM Dubai, a Panama flagged general cargo ship and engaged the pirates in a fight. "I am not sure whether the captain was killed on Wednesday night or early today (Thursday). But he is dead," Mwangura told Xinhua by telephone from Mombasa.

The ship, with dead weight of 15,220 tonnes and a crew of 24 comprising Egyptian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi and Ghanaian nationals, was in bound from Brazil when hijacked in the Internationally Recommended Transit Corridor.

Mwangura said the general cargo ship was carrying sugar from Santos, Brazil to Berbera, Somalia. Pirate attacks off the Somali coast have continued despite the presence of several warships, deployed by navies of the NATO, the European Union, Russia, China, South Korea and India, in the region to protect cargo and cruise ships against piracy.

Attacks in the region started to soar last year, as Somali pirates -- long active in these waters -- started venturing farther from shore and going after bigger game.

The East African nation shares its southern border with Somalia, whose coastline has been infected with piracy in recent years.

More than 130 pirate attacks were reported in the waters off Somalia from the beginning of last year.