Landing the Big One

Landing the Big One

Sunday, January 29, 2006

Captured suspect Somali pirates transferred to Kenya

Reported here:
10 suspected pirates seized in the Indian Ocean were flown to Mombasa on Sunday.

Two US jet fighters flew to Moi International Airport from a US destroyer, USS Winston Churchill, anchored in the Indian Ocean. American soldiers, off the Somali shore, seized the suspects aboard a dhow over the weekend. Sources said they were captured after hijacking 16 crew of an Indian fishing vessel.

They were handed over to Kenyan detectives at the airport.

Sources said the suspects hijacked a dhow near Mogadishu Town and used it to stage attacks on ships in the Indian Ocean. The officers had earlier received information that the suspects had fired at a ship sailing to Kenya.

Sources said they later admitted having links to terrorist activities. In November, pirates freed a Ukrainian ship and 22 crewmembers after holding them hostage for 40 days. (emphasis added)
I doubt jet fighters were involved - perhaps helicopters... but note the part about "terrorist activities."

UPDATE; (1-30/06) BBC says:
Ten Somalis arrested by the US navy have been flown to the Kenyan port of Mombasa, where they are to be charged.
Kenyan sailors, taken hostage on a ship carrying UN food aid to Somalia, have reportedly identified some of the men.

Meanwhile, three more Taiwanese fishing boats seized by pirates off the Somali coast have been freed, officials say...

...The Indian crew on board the ship was freed. They had attracted the attention of the US navy by writing "Help" on the side of the ship, reports Kenya's Daily Nation newspaper...

...In the Taiwanese capital, Taipei, foreign ministry official Michel Lu told the AFP news agency: "The three ships have set sail from Somalia, and the crew are all safe."

The four vessels carried a total of 62 crew from Taiwan, China, the Philippines, Indonesia and Vietnam.

Another Taiwanese ship was freed last week...

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