At least 13 ships have been attacked off Somalia's coast since the start of the year — the highest rate of hijackings in over a decade — as pirates exploit a security vacuum created by the ongoing US-Iran conflict over the Strait of Hormuz and a Houthi blockade of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait (a chokepoint controlling access to the Red Sea), both of which are stretching international naval resources thin. Analysts say the crisis is compounded by more commercial vessels rerouting closer to Somali waters to avoid northern conflict zones, making them easier targets, while the underlying conditions driving piracy — poverty and illegal foreign fishing in Puntland (a semi-autonomous region of northeastern Somalia) — remain unaddressed. The seizure of the cargo vessel MV Lutuf has added a further diplomatic dimension, with Puntland officials alleging that Turkey carried out drone strikes killing 13 people linked to the pirate network, after the ship was found to be carrying weapons bound for a Turkish military facility in Mogadishu — claims Ankara has neither confirmed nor denied.