Pirates have continued raids despite warship patrols off Somalia
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Yemeni special forces have freed an oil tanker captured by Somali pirates, Yemeni officials say.
Eleven pirates were arrested in the operation, they said. The Qana was seized on Sunday but was not carrying cargo at the time.
It was one of four tankers attacked off Yemen’s coast but coastguards freed the other vessels after a fierce battle.
On Saturday an Italian cruise ship with 1,500 passengers fended off an attack from pirates off the coast of Somalia.
The Qana is being escorted to the Yemeni city of al-Mukalla, according to AFP news agency.
On Sunday pirates freed another Yemeni-owned tanker, the Sea Princess II, which had been held since January. There were no details about the conditions of the release.
Yemen lies 700 miles from Somalia, where the pirates operate from. The BBC’s Christian Fraser in Cairo says they are taking advantage of current favourable weather conditions to launch attacks further afield.
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Full article and photo: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8019926.stm
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Yemen Frees Ship and Captures Pirates
Yemeni special forces Monday freed a Yemeni oil tanker seized by Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden, killing three pirates and capturing at least nine on board, a government official said.
The ship, named Qana, was seized by Somali pirates off Yemen’s coast Sunday but was empty of oil cargo. The deaths Monday took to five the number of pirates killed as Yemeni forces battled for two days to take back the vessel.
They were escorting the tanker to the Yemeni port of Aden on the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula.
Pirates have made millions of dollars over the past year from seizing ships and taking crews hostage. Pirates have increased raids on ships passing through the Gulf of Aden, a key shipping lane for oil and cargo, since February.
Better weather has allowed them to operate more freely despite foreign navy patrols off the coast of Somalia.
Yemen, across the Gulf of Aden from Somalia, is a small producer of oil and exports 200,000 barrels per day but is one of the world’s poorest countries.
The tanker, with a 23-strong crew of which three are Indian and the rest Yemenis, has a capacity of 3,000 tons but was not carrying any cargo when it was seized.
The pirates had briefly seized three other vessels earlier before Yemeni forces freed them, a Yemeni official said.
Sunday pirates freed the Yemeni-owned Sea Princess II tanker that had been held since January 2.
The London-based IMB watchdog said piracy incidents nearly doubled in the first quarter of 2009, almost entirely due to Somalia and there were 18 attacks off its coast in March alone.
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Full article: http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2009/04/27/world/international-us-yemen-ship-release.html?hp
