Pirates fired on a Japanese cargo ship off the coast of Somalia but escaped after the ship began evasive manoeuvres, the Japanese government said.Masami Suekado, a Transportation Ministry official, said no one was injured in the attack, which occurred Sunday in the pirate-infested Gulf of Aden.
Pirates in two small vessels approached the Jasmine Ace and fired several shots before escaping, Suekado said.
Bullets broke windows and hit the ceiling of the bridge, he said.
Noel Choong, who heads the International Maritime Bureau's piracy reporting centre in Kuala Lumpur, said pirates fired rocket-propelled grenades and automatic weapons to try and intercept the Japanese cargo ship.
Atsuko Nakajima, a spokesman for Mitsui OSK Lines, which operates the ship, said 18 people all from the Philippines were aboard the ship, which was carrying a cargo of automobiles.
Suekado said the 13,000-ton cargo ship zigzagged away and the pirates broke off their assault.
The ship was heading toward Mombasa, in Kenya, when it was attacked.
Nakajima declined to give the ship's current location for security reasons.
Last year, 12 Japanese owned or operated ships were attacked in the area.
This was the first strike on a Japanese operated ship there this year.