(CNN) -- Pirates near Somalia's coastline attacked a cargo ship Wednesday with a crew of at least 20 U.S. nationals, according to the company that owns the vessel. It is believed that the U.S.-flagged Maersk Alabama was subsequently hijacked, according to a statement from Maersk Line Ltd. If so, it would be the sixth hijacking over the past week.
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"There is a task force present in the region to deter any type of piracy, but the challenge remains that the area is so big and it is hard to monitor all the time," he said. "The area we patrol is over a million square miles. We can't be everywhere at once."
He said U.S.-flagged ships are not normally escorted by the military, unless they request it from the U.S. Navy.
Recent attacks off the coast of Somalia, which have taken place south of the area patrolled by U.S. and coalition ships, shows pirates are changing their tactics and taking advantage of tens of thousands of square miles of open water where fewer military ships patrol, according to U.S. military officials.
"They [pirates] are going where we are not, they are looking for targets where there is limited coalition presence," according to a U.S. military briefing document shown to CNN.Read more @ CNN News
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