Somali pirates have hijacked Panamanian-flagged vessel in the Somali basin, European Union anti- piracy force said on Thursday.

EU Naval Force spokesman Per Klingvall said the MV Hanniball II was seized early Thursday from Malaysia to Suez with 31 crew members.

Klingvall said the 24,105 tonne chemical tanker was carrying vegetable oils from Pasir Gudang to Suez at the time.

"The master of the vessel reported that he had been attacked and boarded by pirates in an area some 860 nautical miles East of The Horn of Africa which is considerably closer to India than it is to Somalia," he said.

The MV Hannibal II has a total of 31 crew on board. This number consists of 23 Tunisians, 4 Filipinos, 1 Croatian, 1 Georgian, 1 Russian and 1 Moroccan.

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.