Somali pirates hijack 3 more

MOMBASA – Undeterred by US and French hostage rescues that killed seven bandits, Somali pirates brazenly hijacked three more ships in the Gulf of Aden, the waterway that’s become the focal point of the world’s fight against piracy.

The latest trophy for the pirates was the MV Irene E M, a Greek-managed bulk carrier sailing from the Middle East to South Asia, said Noel Choong, who heads the International Maritime Bureau’s piracy reporting centre in Kuala Lumpur.
The Irene was attacked and seized in the middle of the night on Tuesday – a rare tactic for the pirates.
US Navy Lieutenant Nathan Christensen, spokesman for the Bahrain-based 5th Fleet, said the Irene was flagged in the Caribbean island nation of St. Vincent and the Grenadines and carried 23 Filipino crew. Choong reported a crew of 21, and there was no immediate way to reconcile the figures.
On Monday, Somali pirates also seized two Egyptian fishing boats in the Gulf of Aden off Somalia’s northern coast, according to Egypt’s Foreign Ministry, which said the boats carried 18 to 24 Egyptians total.
A flotilla of warships from nearly a dozen countries has patrolled the Gulf of Aden and nearby Indian Ocean waters for months. They have halted several attacks on ships this year, but say the area is so vast they can’t stop all hijackings.
Choong said pirate attacks this year had risen to 77, with 18 of those ships hijacked and 16 vessels with 285 crew still in pirates’ hands. Each boat carries the potential of a million-dollar ransom.
The latest seizures come after Navy SEAL snipers rescued American ship captain Richard Phillips on Sunday by killing three young pirates who held him captive in a drifting lifeboat for five days. A fourth pirate surrendered after seeking medical attention for a wound he received in trying to take over Phillips’ vessel, the Maersk Alabama.
In Washington, President Barack Obama appeared to move the piracy issue higher on his agenda, vowing the United States would work with nations around the world to fight the problem.
‘I want to be very clear that we are resolved to halt the rise of piracy in that region and to achieve that goal, we’re going to have to continue to work with our partners to prevent future attacks,’ Obama said at a news conference Monday.
The US is considering new options to fight piracy, including adding Navy gunships along the Somali coastline and launching a campaign to disable pirate ‘mother ships,’ according to military officials. They spoke on condition of anonymity because no decisions have been made yet.
The four pirates that attacked the Alabama were between 17 and 19 years old, Defence Secretary Robert Gates said.
‘Untrained teenagers with heavy weapons,’ Gates told students and faculty at the Marine Corps War College. ‘Everybody in the room knows the consequences of that.’
US officials were now considering whether to bring the fourth pirate, who surrendered shortly before the sniper shootings, to the United States or possibly turn him over to Kenya.
The French navy late on Monday handed over the bodies of two Somali pirates killed in a hostage rescue operation last week to authorities in Somali’s semiautonomous northern region of Puntland, and they were buried.
– Nampa-AP