AP Photo The U.S.-flagged cargo ship, the Maersk Alabama arrives in Mombasa, Kenya, in this April 11, 2009, file photo, after the ship was attacked by Somali pirates. The Somalis tried again Wednesday, but were repelled by crewmen who returned fire.

NAIROBI, Kenya - Somali pirates attacked the Maersk Alabama for the second time in seven months on Wednesday, but guards on board the U.S.-flagged cargo ship repelled the takeover attempt, the EU's naval force said. Pirates hijacked the Maersk Alabama last April and took ship captain Richard Phillips hostage, holding him at gunpoint in a lifeboat for five days. Navy SEAL sharpshooters freed Phillips while killing three pirates in a daring nighttime attack. Somali pirates attacked the ship with automatic weapons early Wednesday about 350 nautical miles east of the Somali coast, but guards on board the craft fired back and thwarted the attempted hijacking. Cmdr. John Harbour, a spokesman for the EU Naval Force, called it "pure chance" that the Maersk Alabama had been targeted a second time. "It's not the first vessel to have been attacked twice, and it's a chance that every single ship takes as it passes through the area," Harbour said.