NAIROBI (AFP) - Pirates attacked a German-owned cargo ship flying under a Maltese flag and captured its 17-strong crew overnight in the Gulf of Aden, officials said Saturday. A cereal carrier has been seized overnight (Friday to Saturday) in the eastern part of the Gulf of Aden, said Andrew Mwangura, of the Kenya-based East African Seafarers Assistance Programme. It seems that its 17 crew members are unhurt, he said. The Maltese-flagged vessel, Patriot, was owned by a Germany company and was attacked 150 nautical miles from the Yemeni port of Al-Mukalla, a US Navy spokesman Lieutenant Nathan Christensen told AFP. from Bahrain, where the US Fifth Fleet is based. The nationality of the crew was not known. Mwangura added that a Philippine-flagged chemical tanker recently freed by Somali pirates had been refuelled and was on its way to the Kenyan port of Mombasa or Djibouti. The MT Stolt Strength and its 23-man Filipino crew had been stranded after its release on Tuesday, low on fuel and supplies.