Free Republic

old, but worth watching to see who our leaders are at this time of crisis. Cackling Clinton Explains Piracy

... The New York Times reports that an FBI hostage-rescue negotiator aboard the U.S.S. Sterett came to believe the two Somalis were not serious when they boarded the vessel. Once those men were taken into custody, U.S. officials told the pirates on the yacht -- called the Quest -- to send over someone they could negotiate with. The events that immediately followed have been sharply contested and raises questions about the decision to detain the pirate leaders, the Times reports. American officials said the pirates on the yacht seemed relieved — even “exceptionally calm” — when they were told their...

Bible distributors who were taken hostage by Somali pirates were killed while negotiations between the pirates and U.S. military forces were underway Tuesday morning. U.S. forces boarded the yacht in response to gunfire, and discovered that four hostages had been shot. Two of the pirates were killed, and 13 captured in a confrontation, according to a statement from U.S. Central Command. Scott and Jean Adam's vessel Quest was taken hostage last week; 19 pirates were believed to be involved in the hijacking.

WASHINGTON, Feb. 22, 2011 – Somali pirates killed all four Americans they had held hostage aboard a sailing vessel in the Indian Ocean this morning, U.S. Central Command officials announced. U.S. officials were negotiating with the pirates for the safe return of the captured Americans when the murders took place, officials said. Centcom officials said that in the midst of negotiations, U.S. forces responded to gunfire aboard the S/V Quest. When the forces reached the boat, officials said, they discovered all four hostages had been shot by their captors. Despite immediate steps to provide life-saving care, all four hostages ultimately...

Four Americans taken hostage by Somali pirates off East Africa were shot and killed by their captors Monday, the U.S. military said, marking the first time U.S. citizens have been killed in a wave of pirate attacks plaguing the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean for years. U.S. naval forces, who were trailig the Americans' captured yacht with four warships

A ROYAL Navy team has successfully stormed a vessel seized by Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden and rescued five Yemeni fishermen who had been held hostage for three months. The Ministry of Defence described the Yemeni fishing boat as a pirate "mother ship". The pirates used it as a base from which to mount attacks in three smaller craft, which were destroyed in the operation last Thursday. The group of about half a dozen sailors and Royal Marines, dispatched from a British warship that is part of an anti-piracy mission in the region, found and destroyed several weapons,...

Danish ship patrolling the Gulf of Aden under NATO operational control captured 16 suspected Somali pirates who were sailing a hijacked vessel, the Danish navy and NATO said on Sunday. "The Esbern Snare warship on Friday morning captured a pirate group which operated from a hijacked ship," the Danish Navy operational control (SOK) said in a statement. The Danish crew spotted a small suspicious vessel while patrolling off the Somali coast Friday and decided to investigate it. "After boarding the vessel it became clear that those (aboard) were 16 suspected pirates and two Yemeni hostages," NATO's Allied Maritime command said.

India on Thursday warned of an increased threat to shipping off its southwest coast, as 28 suspected Somali pirates were brought to Mumbai for questioning. Coastguard Inspector General SPS Basra said there had been a rise in pirate attacks on merchant vessels within 250-300 nautical miles (450-550 kilometres) of India in recent months and shipping had been warned to steer clear of danger areas. "The Indian Navy and Coastguard are sparing no effort to thwart any such activity in Indian waters and will continue to deal with such incidents decisively with an iron fist to keep our waters safe and...

ndia's defence ministry announced Sunday the country's navy and coastguard detained 52 people aboard a Thai fishing vessel that had been hijacked six months ago off the coast of Somalia. AFP - The Indian navy and coastguard captured a suspected pirate "mothership" and detained more than 50 people after a firefight on Sunday off southwestern India, the defence ministry said. "There were 52 people in all," defence ministry spokesman Captain M. Nambiar told AFP but was unable to specify the numbers of suspected pirates and rescued hostages, nor could he give their nationalities. All were found on board a Thai...

NAIROBI, Kenya — Somali pirates on Wednesday released a South Korean ship seized four months ago while fishing for crabs, while another group of sea bandits captured a Greek-flagged supertanker carrying oil to the Gulf of Mexico. ... South Korea's foreign ministry said pirates released the Keummi 305 and its crew — 39 Kenyans, two South Koreans and two Chinese sailors. The ship was last reported sailing away from Somalia toward international waters. A vessel from the EU Naval Force was sailing toward the ship to secure the safety of sailors at the request of a South Korean navy vessel,...

A supertanker carrying about $200m (£125m; 146m euros) worth of crude oil has been hijacked off the coast of Oman, the vessel's Greek operator says. Athens-based shipping company Enesel said they had lost communication with the Irene SL. The vessel was on its way from the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Mexico when it was attacked. Although the incident happened hundreds of miles from Somalia, pirate gangs are known to operate there. "This morning the vessel was attacked by armed men," said Enesel in a statement quoted by Reuters. "For the moment there is no communication with the vessel."

ROME, Feb. 8 (Xinhua) -- An Italian oil tanker has been hijacked by pirates in the Indian Ocean, news reports here quoted the Italian coast guard as saying Tuesday. According to the Italian Marine Corps, the captain tried to evade capture by speeding up, suddenly changing gear and firing powerful water jets on the priates' skiff. At least five pirates fired rockets and machine guns at the 266-meter Savina Caylin and they were believed to have seized control of the tanker, said Cosimo Nicastro, captain of an Italian coast guard frigate. No one was injured in the attack, which took...

Ships transiting the pirate-infested waters off the coast of Somalia will have firepower at their sides later this year if an escort patrol developed by an insurance broker is able to navigate a few more legal and financial obstacles. Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group P.L.C. has spent the past two years developing the Convoy Escort Program, a separate, nonprofit company that will operate 16 armed patrol boats in the Gulf of Aden with crews consisting mainly of ex-military personnel who are trained to intercept pirates before they can hijack merchant ships. JLT expects funding for the company to be in place...

Malaysia says its navy commandos have foiled an attempted hijacking of a ship in the Gulf of Aden, rescuing 23 crew and capturing seven Somali pirates. It says the commandos injured three pirates during a gun battle on board the Malaysian-flagged MT Bung Laurel chemical tanker on Friday. The navy was alerted by a distress signal from the vessel's crew. Kuala Lumpur is now considering whether the pirates should face trial in Malaysia. "We will determine what we should do, whether we are going to bring them here to be tried or take any other appropriate action," Malaysian Prime Minister...

Can you believe there was a time when we caved to the communists of North Korea and let them capture, beat and torture some of our sailors? This weekend marks the 42nd anniversary of one of the most shameful episodes in recent United States history. And I doubt if the mainstream media will contain a single word about it. Several years ago, my youngest son and I were watching a program on the History Channel when the program’s narrator mentioned the capture of a U.S. Naval vessel by Communist North Korea back in 1968. “That didn’t really happen, did it,...

SEOUL, South Korea – South Korean special forces stormed a hijacked freighter in the Arabian Sea on Friday, rescuing all 21 crew members and killing eight assailants in a rare and bold raid on Somali pirates, South Korea said. The military operation in waters between Oman and Africa, which also captured five pirates and left one crew member wounded, came a week after the Somali attackers seized the South Korean freighter and held hostage eight South Koreans, two Indonesians and 11 citizens from Myanmar. "We will not tolerate any behavior that threatens the lives and safety of our people in...

Pirates took a record 1,181 hostages in 2010 as ship hijackings in waters off Somalia escalated, a global maritime watchdog said Tuesday. Attackers seized 53 vessels worldwide last year — all but four off the coast of Somalia — according to the International Maritime Bureau's piracy reporting center in Kuala Lumpur. The number of hostages and vessels taken "are the highest we have ever seen" since the center began monitoring attacks in 1991, its director, Pottengal Mukundan, said in a statement. "The continued increase in these numbers is alarming," he said.

NAIROBI, Kenya — Somali pirates hijacked a Greek-owned bulk carrier on Monday after releasing a Greek-owned tanker the day before, the European Union Naval Force said. The cargo ship MV Eagle was hijacked early Monday by pirates who had fired small arms and grenades, according to a press statement from the EU Naval Force. There are 24 Filipino crew onboard, it said. ... The MV Motivator was taken on July 4 and released on Sunday. The average period of captivity is getting longer as pirates negotiate for higher ransoms.

NAIROBI — Puntland, an autonomous Somali region home to pirates who threaten shipping in the Indian Ocean, said Sunday it was breaking with Somalia's transitional government until a legitimate federal authority is in place in Mogadishu. The decision was made during a special cabinet meeting in the Puntland capital Garowe, said a government statement received by AFP in Nairobi. It said the Mogadishu government "does not represent Puntland in international forums" and called on "the UN Political Office for Somalia (UNPOS) to reconsider its position and support for the TFG at the expense of other Somali stakeholders".