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Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Somali Pirates Sieze US Cargo with 20 US Crew



The Danish-owned and US-flagged 17,000-tonne Maersk Alabama, was seized as it passed 400 miles north-east of Mogadishu. Its immediate destination was not known to the world.The attack took place despite the presence of a multi-national naval task force patrolling the waters off Somalia to deter pirates, including the Indian Navy.

“A US-flagged and Danish owned container vessel reported that it had been boarded by pirates at 730am local time today,” said Lt Stephanie Murdock, spokesman for the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet, based in Bahrain. This is the first time the US citizens had been hijacked. This will be another hard test for Obama midst of recession. This is the sixth successful hijack by the pirates of Somalia within the past four days. The unstable government is able control the situation.

A British cargo ship, named the Malaspina Castle, and her of 24 were hijacked on Monday. But most of the crews were Bulgarians. An international naval task force, including Indian Navy warships, is deployed to patrol the waters Somalia to overcome the pirates. Last year the Somalian pirates attacked more than 130 vessels, mostly of them in Gulf of Aden, out of which 50 were successful hijackings.

Recently there was an attack by Taliban supporters in Somalia against the pirates. May be they are afraid of the US intervention in this region.

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