BRUSSELS, March 26 (Xinhua) -- Two European owned chemical tankers have been hijacked by pirates off Somalia in the past two days, a European Union mission on fighting piracy in the Horn of Africa said on Thursday.

A photo taken in 2008 and provided by Shipspotting.com, of the 23,000-tonne Norwegian-owned and Bahamian-registered M.V. Bow-Asir outbound from Rotterdam.

 "Two European owned chemical tankers have been hijacked in the Somali basin in the past 24 hours," the Maritime Security Center --Horn of Africa (MSCHOA) said in a statement posted on its website.

    A 9,000-ton Greek-owned and Panamanian-registered vessel, with its 19 crew, was attacked approximately 450 miles east of Kismaayoon Wednesday afternoon, the statement said.

    On Thursday morning, a 23,000-ton Norwegian-owned and Bahamian-registered vessel was captured 250 miles east of Kismaayo, it added.

    The Maritime Security Center has issued a warning notifying all vessels in this area to be aware of the sudden increase in pirate activity.