Somali Pirates Go "Mother Ship" Hunting, Grab Yemeni Fishing Boat

Reported as "Yemeni fishing vessel seized by Somali pirates in Arab Sea"

Somali pirates hijacked a Yemeni fishing vessel in the pirate-infested waters of the Arab Sea, Yemen's Interior Ministry said Monday.

"The vessel owned by Yemeni fisherman Ahmed Nasser ... has reported a crew of nine Yemeni fishermen on it," the ministry said in a statement on its website. It provided no further information on the condition of the crew.

Well, it being Yemeni and all, you know that it wasn't taken for the big ransom it would bring.

The pirates use such vessels to extend their attack range. UPDATE: In the "sorta related" news category, there is an odd report that a pirate haven was attacked by "aircraft" of unknown origin, as seen at SOMALIA: War planes strike Somalia’s Bari region, 2 fisher men wounded:

At least two Somali fishermen were wounded in the old coastal district of Gumbah, which is 200km east of Bosasso, the capital of Bari region in the semi-autonomous state of Puntland, RBC Radio reports. The strike which occurred on midnight of Monday targeted boats on the coast of the district wounding two people, Gure Ali Daad who is the permanent secretary of the district commissioner told RBC Radio by phone. “The air strike begun late on the night about 1.00 p.m (local time), two planes targeted fisher men returning from the coast. Two fishermen were injured.” Gure Ali Daad said. “We heard at least two bombardments, we could not identify where the planes from, because they had no lights.” He added. Mr. Daad denied that his district hosted the pirates operating in Puntland coastal districts where they usually hold ships and receive ransom money.

Interesting. Odd, but interesting. More in this AFP report:

Last month the European Union authorised its navies to strike Somali pirate equipment on land, with a mandate for warships or helicopters to fire at fuel barrels, boats, trucks or other equipment stowed away on beaches. However, it was not possible to establish which nation the aircraft belonged to, and the EU force have not yet said they have ever launched such an attack. A spokesman for Atalanta, the EU anti-piracy mission, said it was "not involved whatsoever" and declined comment on who might be behind the strike. The United States also operates unmanned drones flying over the Horn of Africa nation, and have reportedly struck suspected Al-Qaeda allied fighters in southern Somalia.