MADRID?Armed, private security guards aboard two Spanish fishing boats Friday repelled an attack from pirates in the Indian Ocean, the boats' owner said.

The incident occurred southwest of the Seychelles, when the two tuna trawlers, the Taraska and Ortube Barria, were attacked by pirates aboard two boats, a spokesman for the Albacora company, Ricardo Garcia, told Spanish national radio.

"Two fast pirates boats approached intending to seize" the fishing boats, after which there was "an exchange of gunfire" and the pirates fled, he said.

No one was hurt and there was no damage in the incident, he added.

It was the latest of several such incidents involving Spanish fishing boats in the past month in the Indian Ocean, where dozens of attacks on passing ships have occurred.

Last year another Spanish tuna fishing vessel, the Alakrana, and its crew of 36 were taken hostage for more than a month off the coast of Somalia, where pirates have bases.

They were freed after paying a ransom of four million dollars (three million euros), according to the Somali pirates who had captured them.

Spanish boats do not carry soldiers when they travel through the area, unlike French vessels.

But Madrid allows private security guards to carry weapons on the vessels to protect them.