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NORFOLK, Va. (AP) -- Eleven Somalis accused of attacking two navy ships off the coast of Africa appeared in Virginia federal court Friday shortly after being indicted on charges of piracy.

U.S. Admiral Mark Fitzgerald says commercial ships in the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean should carry armed guards to help defend against Somali pirates. "The area is enormous and we just do not have enough assets to cover every place in the Indian Ocean," said Fitzgerald, who commands U.S. Naval Forces in Europe and Africa. While trying to open a corridor through the Gulf of Aden, some of the pirates have been forced into the Indian Ocean as far away as the Seychelles. "There has got to be security on these ships in my opinion," said Fitzgerald. "Those security...

Private security guards shot and killed a Somali pirate during an attack on a merchant ship off the coast of East Africa in what is believed to be the first such killing by armed contractors, the EU Naval Force spokesman said Wednesday. The death comes amid fears that increasingly aggressive pirates and the growing use of armed private-security contractors aboard vessels could fuel increased violence on the high seas. The handling of the case may have legal implications beyond the individuals involved in Tuesday's shooting.

The government of Kenya is no longer accepting pirates captured by the international task force operating in the Red Sea and approaches. Kenya claims that its justice system is overloaded with Somali pirates and that it just can't handle any more of them. This policy was initiated with no warning or even a public announcement. The task force has already started cutting loose pirates caught in the act. A Dutch vessel did so early last week, followed by a U.S. Navy destroyer that tossed back a crew that had actually opened fire with RPGs. This is obviously a situation that cannot...

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — A U.S. warship captured six suspected pirates Saturday after a battle off the Horn of Africa — the Navy's third direct encounter with seafaring bandits in less than two weeks. The Navy has taken at least 21 suspected pirates since March 31 in the violence-plagued waters off Somalia and nearby regions, where U.S. warships are part of an international anti-piracy flotilla....

A Norfolk-based dock landing ship has captured six pirates after being fired upon in the Gulf of Aden, the Navy announced today. It is the fourth confrontation by the Navy with pirates in the past two weeks and the second time in that span that pirates have opened fire on a U.S. Navy vessel. The Navy said 21 suspected pirates are now in U.S. custody from those incidents. Suspected pirates fired at the port side of the Ashland about 380 miles off the coast of Djibouti, the Navy said. The Navy ship returned fire with its 25mm gun, catching the...

A South Korean warship has caught up with a super-tanker that was hijacked by Somali pirates in the Indian Ocean. The South Korean foreign ministry said the destroyer had arrived in waters near the tanker and would remain at a safe distance. The 300,000-ton Samho Dream, which was on its way from Iraq to the United States, has 24 crew and is laden with crude oil. Its owners said the pirates had not yet made any demands. When the crew of the South Korean operated super tanker first raised the alarm the navy destroyer, already on duty in the Gulf...

A South Korea-operated, Singapore-owned oil tanker has been hijacked by Somali pirates in the Indian Ocean. The 300,000-tonne Samho Dream - loaded with crude oil - was on its way from Iraq to the United States with 24 crew when it was seized on Sunday. South Korea has sent a destroyer already in the area to intercept the tanker before it reaches any port. Pirates targeting ships off the coast of Somalia made tens of millions of dollars in ransom payments last year. The Cheong-hae destroyer was on patrol in the Gulf of Aden, where pirates have often staged attacks....

A South Korean warship is rushing to the area where Somali pirates hijacked a South Korean oil tanker with 24 crew members aboard, the military says. The 300,000-tonne Samho Dream was seized on Sunday on its way from Iraq to the US state of Louisiana with a crew of five South Koreans and 19 Filipinos. A South Korean destroyer, which was in the Gulf of Aden on anti-piracy operations, has been ordered to move to waters off Somalia, a Joint Chiefs of Staff spokesman told AFP. "The destroyer is sailing in a hurry to catch up with the hijacked ship,"...

A U.S. Navy ship has sunk a pirate "mother ship" in the Indian Ocean and captured 11 pirates, and then promptly let them go. It was the second time within 24 hours that U.S. forces captured Somali pirates. Earlier Thursday, five pirates were taken into custody after they attacked a U.S. warship. While those five pirates remain in custody, the 11 captured Thursday were allowed to leave in small skiffs after the mother ship was sunk. The action prompted a Pentagon spokesman to deny that the Navy had a "catch and release" policy regarding pirates. A Naval official told...

Somali pirates are not having it all their own way at present. In the latest incident, some unsophisticated pirates, seeing a large vessel on the horizon, sped up to it hoping for rich pickings only to find themselves confronting a US navy missile frigate, which exchanged fire severely damaging both of their boats, and later capturing the mother ship. April 2, 2010, [PDN]: Just after midnight, west of the Seychelles Islands, a gang of three pirates fired on a 453-foot American warship, the USS Nicholas, mistaking it for a commercial vessel. To their chagrin, the pirates found they had bitten...

The small gang of Somali pirates fired on an approaching ship, hoping their midnight attack would bring them millions in ransom. The ragtag bandits, though, had taken on far more than they could handle: a U.S. warship. The USS Nicholas, a guided missile frigate, was tracking the pirates when they opened fire early Thursday in Indian Ocean waters, the U.S. military said. The Nicholas, which saw combat in the first Gulf War, returned fire and disabled the skiff. Navy personnel later boarded and detained three suspects. The Americans found two more bandits on a nearby mothership and later sank the...

Suspected Somali pirates fired on a U.S. Navy warship off East Africa early Thursday in what appeared to be a ransom-seeking attack on an American guided missile frigate, officials said. The USS Nicholas returned fire on the pirate skiff, sinking it and confiscating a nearby mothership. The Navy took five pirates into custody, said Navy Lt. Patrick Foughty, a spokesman. International naval forces have stepped up their enforcement of the waters off East Africa in an effort to thwart a growing pirate trade. [Snip] Thursday's attack came just shy of a year since pirates attacked the U.S.-flagged Maersk Alabama...

NAIROBI, Kenya - U.S. naval forces say they've captured five pirates after exchanging fire with them, sinking their skiff and confiscating a mother ship. The USS Nicholas came under fire early Thursday from pirates in an area west of the Seychelles. The U.S. Africa Command said the five pirates seized would remain in U.S. custody on board the frigate for time being. The Nicholas is home-ported in Norfolk, Va. International naval forces have stepped up their enforcement of the waters off East Africa in an effort to thwart a growing pirate trade. Experts say piracy will continue to be a...

NAIROBI (Kenya) - SOMALI pirates hijacked two ships on Tuesday, including a vessel carrying fertiliser, in a series of attacks that shows the pirates are moving further east, officials said. The hijacking of the Malta-flagged MV Frigia took place more than 1,600 km out at sea and represents a substantial increase in the pirates' range, said Commander John Harbour, spokesman for the European Union Naval Force. The attack took place more than 640 km outside where the naval force operates. The second hijacking, of the MV Talca, took place about 190 km off the coast of Oman, said Mr Harbour....

After the pirates realized they had made what spokesman Cmdr. John Harbour called a "rather silly mistake," they turned around and fled. EU Naval Force personnel tracked down the two skiffs and a third suspected mothership, finding ammunition and rocket-propelled grenades on board... The two skiffs were destroyed and the pirates were set free on the mothership ... The London-based International Maritime Bureau says Somali pirates captured 47 vessels last year and launched 217 attacks. More than 100 crew are still being held.

<p>Danish special forces disrupted the takeover by pirates of a cargo ship in the Gulf of Aden on Friday, in a maneuver rarely undertaken by NATO warships...</p> <p>The crew of the Ariella had seen a skiff approaching their position in the Gulf of Aden early Friday with six or seven armed men firing at them, said Cmdr. Dan B. Termansen, the commander of the Danish warship Absalon. The crew ran to the bridge, where the captain sent out a distress call and put the ship on full steam ahead.</p>

The international Anti-Piracy patrol is winning the battle for control of the Gulf of Aden, but is still vulnerable in more distant waters. For example, on March 5th, a small tanker was taken north of Madagascar, over a thousand kilometers south of Somalia (and more than 1,500 kilometers from the pirate bases in Puntland). The tanker had travelled from the Persian Gulf, swung east of the Seychelles islands to avoid pirates, and was on its way to Tanzania (just south of Kenya), when it was seized. Most of the thousand or so pirates in Puntland are not willing, or able,...

NAIROBI, Kenya – Signaling a new offensive mindset, international military officials vowed Friday to fight the pirates as swarms of Somalis moved into the waters off East Africa. Four shootouts with pirates showed that high-seas attacks are intensifying with the end of the monsoon season. Nearly half the 47 ships hijacked off Somalia last year were taken in March and April — the most dangerous months of the year for ships in the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean. In the most serious skirmish Friday, six pirates attacked a vessel before breaking off and chasing the French fishing boat Torre...

"Pirates 'smuggling al-Qaeda fighters' into Somalia Somali Islamists bent on turning their land into an international haven for Al Qaeda are using pirate gangs to offer foreign militants safe passage into the country, The Sunday Telegraph has been told." SNIPPET: "The Taliban-style Shabab group , which has already siezed control of much of the lawless nation, has enlisted the pirates' services to smuggle in al-Qaeda fighters from across the Middle East, according to Somali government ministers. They claim that up to 1,000 have arrived in recent months, swelling the ranks of the Shabab in its bid to topple the fragile...