Nov 17: A Saudi-owned supertanker loaded with crude oil, with two Britons among its 25 crew, is boarded off the Kenyan coast - the largest ship to be seized so far by Somali pirates, and the farthest away from Somali territorial waters

Nov 12: A Turkish chemical tanker hijacked off the coast of Yemen

Nov 11: Three pirates killed and others captured in firefight with Royal Marines from HMS Cumberland, after attempted hijack of Danish-registered MV Powerful 60 miles off Yemen coast

Oct 28: A Spanish military patrol plane thwarts attempts to hijack an oil tanker by buzzing the pirate vessel repeatedly and dropping smoke canisters

Oct 2: Ten EU countries pledge to contribute ships, helicopters and personnel to an anti-piracy taskforce off east Africa

Sept 26: Greek chemical tanker seized off the coast of Somalia

Sept 25: Pirates demand $35 million ransom after seizing the Ukrainian cargo ship Faina, which was laden with Russian tanks, and its crew

Sept 18: Insurance premiums for ships using the Gulf of Aden are reported to have increased tenfold in one year, on the same day that pirates seize a Greek ship carrying salt, with 25 Filipino crew, and a Hong Kong-registered vessel en route for Tunisia with 24 Chinese and one Sri Lankan crew aboard

Sept 5: Somali gunmen demand $1 million ransom for a retired French couple aboard a yacht that was seized in the Gulf of Aden and sailed to a remote buccaneer hideout. The couple are rescued on Sept 16 when the yacht is stormed by an underwater combat unit of French special forces

Aug 22: Somali pirates seize three ships in one day. An Iranian bulk carrier with 29 crew and a Japanese-operated chemical tanker with 19 hands aboard are hijacked within an hour of one another on the Gulf of Aden, followed a few hours later by a German-operated cargo ship with nine crew

Aug 20: A Malaysian palm oil tanker is seized

Aug 14: Thai cargo ship and the 28 people on board taken hostage off Northern Somalia

July: A Japanese-owned ship carrying 20 Philippine sailors is hijacked in the Gulf of Aden

June: UN Security Council votes to allow countries to send warships into Somali waters to tackle piracy

April 21: Pirates fire rocket-propelled grenades at a Japanese oil tanker, leaving a hole that allowed several hundred gallons of fuel to leak out

April 11: In a daring helicopter raid, French marine commandos free the 30 crew of the luxury yacht Le Ponant a week after it was seized by pirates described as local Somali fishermen.

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