NAIROBI, Nov. 19 (Xinhua) -- Eight suspected Somali
pirates who were seized by Royal Marine commandos in a high seas exchange of
gunfire off Somalia last week were charged in Kenyan court on Wednesday.
The suspects appeared before Mombasa Chief Magistrate
Catherine Mwangi accused of allegedly committing piracy along the Somalia
coastline.
They denied the charges but were remanded in custody
until Monday pending a ruling whether to grant them bail or not.
The suspects were captured after a British frigate
HMS Cumberland and a Russian frigate Neustrashimy stopped an attempted raid on a
Danish vessel in the Gulf of Aden.
The negotiations have been underway with the Kenyan
authorities ever since the incident on Nov. 11 when commandos from HMS
Cumberland confronted the pirates who had earlier tried to hijack a Danish cargo
vessel, the MV Powerful.
Three pirates were killed after the Marines opened
fire in self-defense when there was a burst of gunfire from a dhow which had
been involved in the incident with the Danish vessel.
According to police reports, seven AK-47 rifles,
pistols and a missile launcher were recovered from the suspects.
The handover of the suspects follows the seizure in a
separate incident over the weekend of the biggest vessel to be hijacked by
Somali pirates, the giant Saudi oil tanker Sirius Star.
The Saudi supertanker was hijacked more than 830
kilometers, southeast of Mombasa, southeast Kenya, U.S. Navy officials said.
That is far to the south of most recent attacks,
suggesting that the pirates may be expanding their range in an effort to avoid
the multinational naval patrols now plying the Gulf of Aden and the Arabian Sea.
Andrew Mwangura of the East African Seafarers
Assistance Program (SAP) said that the three ships hijacked include a Thai
fishing boat, a Hong Kong-registered cargo and a Greek bulk carrier were
hijacked on Tuesday.
"The ships were hijacked on Tuesday but we have not
been able to contact the crew on the ships. They were all seized by different
groups of pirates in the Gulf of Aden," Mwangura said.
"We are still making contacts with the owners and
operators of these ships," said Mwangura, who was not able to confirm the ship's
name. The hijacking came even as the Royal Navy and other foreign naval forces
continued to patrol the Somalia waters and other volatile parts in the Gulf of
Aden.
The Indian Navy said one of its warships destroyed a
ship belonging to pirates off the coast of Somalia.
Military officials say the warship "INS Tabar"
engaged in a brief battle Wednesday with suspected pirates in a ship that was
accompanied by two speed boats.
The incident happened in the Gulf of Aden, where
maritime officials say pirates seized three vessels on Tuesday.
Authorities say pirates hijacked a Thai fishing boat
with a crew of 16, an Iranian cargo ship with a crew of 25, and a Greek bulk
carrier with a crew of at least 23.
The pirates in the main ship fired at the naval
vessel, which returned fire, sinking the ship run by the suspected pirates.
Somalia has had no effective government since the
1991 overthrow of Mohamed Siad Barre, the former president, touched off a bloody
power struggle that has defied numerous attempts to restore stability.
EU anti-piracy operation to begin on
Dec. 8
PARIS, Nov. 19 (Xinhua) --
The European Union's anti-piracy operation to fight against Somali piracy will
begin on December 8,French Defense Minister Herve Morin said Wednesday.
"We proposed to our European partners to take up this
mission," said Morin. At the beginning of December, five or six warships will
begin patrolling in the Gulf of Aden where pirates infest. Full story
Radical Islamist group to "fight
piracy off Somalia"
MOGADISHU, Nov. 19 (Xinhua) -- The
Islamist rebels in control of the southern port city of Kismayu Wednesday
pledged they will fight piracy off the coast of the southern Somali regions
where a Chinese fishing vessel was hijacked this week.
The Islamist Al-Shabaab group's media chief, Sheik Hassan
YakubAli, said that the group will secure the sea off the southern part of the
country saying they will form a task force to protect shipsheading to the
area. Full story
Somali pirates wreak havoc along key shipping route
BEIJING, Nov. 19 (Xinhua) -- Attacks by pirates off the coast of Somalia have fiercely intensified, with five vessels reportedly hijacked in the past week, including Saudi-owned supertanker Sirius Star, the largest vessel ever seized at sea.
On Wednesday, a Hong Kong-flagged cargo ship was confirmed to have been hijacked in the Gulf of Aden near the coast of Yemen. Full story
Somali pirates seize Hong Kong ship
NAIROBI, Nov. 19 (Xinhua) -- Somalia pirates have hijacked a Hong Kong cargo ship in the Gulf of Aden near the coast of Yemen, a regional maritime official confirmed on Wednesday.
The vessel Delight, loaded with 26,000 tons of wheat, was bound for Iran's Bandar Abbas Port when it was hijacked. Full story
