Japanese tugboat

Japanese tugboat attacked, crew kidnapped

Three crewmen were kidnapped after a Japanese tugboat was attacked by pirates in the Malacca Strait late Monday, three days after a gas tanker came under a similar attack in the area, a piracy watchdog said on Monday. An official with the Marine Rescue Coordinating Center in Port Klang, west of Kuala Lumpur told AFP that the pirates have kidnapped the captain, chief engineer and a crew member. The attack on the Idaten boat took place 39 nautical miles south-west of the northern Penang island, police said. Kyodo reported that two of the kidnapped crew were Japanese, the third a Filipino. -- AFP