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Pirates seize eight ships off Somali coast, says official
Published in Saudi Press Agency on 25 - 08 - 2008


Around eight ships have been seized by pirates off
the lawless Somali coast with gunfire being reported during one of
the hijackings, an official said Monday, according to dpa.
"Around eight ships have been seized, but we believe there were no
fatalities," Andrew Mwangura, the head of the Kenya-based East
African Seafarers' Assistance Programme told Deutsche Presse-Agentur
dpa.
"There was a shoot-out at one of the ships, but it was a quarrel
between the gunmen," he continued. "We understand there were no
injuries."
Earlier reports had suggested three sailors had been killed.
Mwangura said it was too early to give full details on all of the
seized craft, but said that they were a mix of tankers and cargo
ships.
Piracy off Somalia's lawless coast has surged in the last three
months.
A total of four ships - from Germany, Japan, Iran and Malaysia -
were seized last week alone.
The International Maritime Bureau (IMB) issued a fresh piracy
warning for the region last week and called on international warships
to help curb the rising trend.
"The situation in this region is grave," IMB Director Pottengal
Mukundan said in a statement. "These pirates are not afraid to use
significant firepower in attempts to bring vessels under their
control."
The United Nations Security Council has approved incursions into
Somali waters to fight piracy and coalition warships are believed to
have intervened in two recent hijacking attempts.
Somalia's weak transitional government, currently engaged in
countering a bloody insurgency, is powerless to stop the pirates from
seizing ships and cashing in by demanding a ransom for the release of
the ships and their crews.
Pirates, armed with rocket-propelled grenades and automatic
weapons, use speedboats to pursue their targets.
Somalia has been in a state of anarchy since the overthrow of
dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991.


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