This photograph provided by the Indian Navy shows armed naval commandos standing behind 10 captured Somali pirates with their hands tied behind after they thwarted a piracy attempt on the Iranian flagged fishing vessel Al Naeemi off the east coast of Somalia, on Jan 29, 2024. (PHOTO / AP)

NEW DELHI - The Indian navy rescued two Iranian fishing vessels that had been hijacked by Somali pirates in one day, India's defense ministry said on Tuesday.

The INS Sumitra patrol vessel rescued 17 Iranian crew members aboard one boat early on Monday before responding to another distress call to free 19 Pakistani nationals on another, the ministry said in a statement.

The rescues came amid a resurgence of Somali piracy in the Indian Ocean since last month following years without a major attack.

The pirates appear to be taking advantage of instability around the Red Sea, where the Houthi militia has targeted civilian ships in what they say is a protest against Israel's military campaign in the Gaza Strip.

The Houthis' attacks have prompted retaliatory air strikes by countries including the United States and Britain, and analysts say they have diverted attention from the Somali piracy threat.

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This handout photograph taken on Jan 30, 2024 and released by the Indian Navy shows an Iranian fishing vessel after it has been freed by the Indian Navy from Somali pirates, off the Somali coast, about 1,574 kilometers west of the Indian city of Kochi. (PHOTO / AFP)

Somali piracy peaked around 2011, costing the world economy some $7 billion a year, before international naval patrols and armed private guards managed to contain the threat.

Until December, when the Maltese-flagged MV Ruen was seized, there head been no successful hijacking of a merchant ship by Somali pirates since 2017.

India's navy has intervened in response to several recent hijackings.

On Monday, the INS Sumitra rescued the Iman fishing vessel by using "coercive posturing" before intercepting the Al Naeemi fishing vessel, which had been boarded by 11 pirates in the southern Arabian Sea, the defense ministry said.

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Forces from the Indian Ocean archipelago nation of the Seychelles rescued the six crew members on a Sri Lankan fishing trawler from suspected Somali pirates on Monday, officials said.