Twenty-eight boats were attacked in the western Indian Ocean in the last year alone.

GENEVA: Southeast Asia has become the world’s hotspot for pirate attacks after an international clampdown slashed the number of hijackings off the coast of war-torn Somalia, the UN said Thursday.

Last year 28 boats were attacked in the western Indian Ocean but none taken captive in the region, the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) said in a report.

That compares to January 2011, when Somali pirates held 736 hostages and 32 boats, some onshore and others on their vessels.

“There has been a significant reduction in the number of pirate attacks during 2013, to the extent one can claim they have almost stopped,” UNITAR said after its five-year study.

Pirate attacks in the Horn of Africa spiralled from the early 2000s, with pirates hijacking cargo ships and taking crew prisoners for months and even years.

Much of that was down to the international fleet that has started to patrol the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean, and many merchant vessels have started keeping armed guards onboard.

Attacks have also become far less severe, with incidents involving rocket-propelled grenades falling from 43 in 2011 to just three last year.

At the same time the pirates’ ransom haul fell from $150 million in 2011 to $60 million the following year.

They’re also sticking much closer to shore, with the average raid taking place less than 50 km from the coast in 2013, a quarter of their range three years earlier.

Meanwhile in Southeast Asia piracy has surged, particularly in the maritime trading hub of the Malacca Straits, between Malaysia and Indonesia.

Attacks in the region topped 150 last year after starting an upward trend since 2010, said UNITAR.