Dutch marines kill 2 pirates off Somali coast

THE HAGUE, Netherlands -- The Dutch defense ministry says its marines have killed two pirates and captured 16 in an operation to free a hijacked Iranian fishing boat off the coast of Somalia.

The ministry says in a statement marines from the frigate HMS Tromp opened fire on the pirates Sunday after they shot at two Dutch inflatable speed boats sent to investigate a suspicious fishing vessel.

Ten suspected pirates were captured as they tried to flee in a high-speed skiff and six more were detained on the fishing boat. The bodies of two suspected pirates killed in the firefight also were recovered on the boat.

Defense Ministry spokeswoman Marloes Visser said Monday the pirates, some of whom were injured in the shooting, were being questioned on board the Tromp.

Source : http://www.forbes.com

Somaliland’s first pirate prison formally opened by the United Nations

The breakaway region of Somaliland has officially opened a maximum security prison, built with United Nations funding, to hold Somali pirates.

On Tuesday the Hargeisa pirate prison was officially opened in Somaliland’s capital. It can hold 460 people and currently houses 297 prisoners, 88 of whom are convicted pirates, ABC News reports.

Although the prison was officially opened this week, prisoners began to arrive in November last year. However, only pirates picked up by the Somali Coast Guard and tried in local courts have been imprisoned, as the facility is not yet accepting pirates captured by foreign countries.

Nato seizes 'pirate mother ship' off Somalia

A Nato warship has captured a suspected pirate mother ship off Somalia, Nato's counter-piracy mission has said.

It said Denmark's warship fired warning shots on Saturday, forcing the vessel to stop and its crew to surrender.

Sixteen suspected pirates on board were then held and a weapons cache seized. Two Yemeni hostages were also freed.

Italy oil tanker hijacked, diverted towards Somalia

Pirates firing guns and rocket propelled grenades hijacked an Italian oil tanker in the Indian Ocean and diverted the medium-sized vessel towards Somalia, Italian Navy and European Union officials said.

Seaborne gangs are making tens of millions of dollars in ransoms, and despite successful efforts to quell attacks in the Gulf of Aden, international navies have struggled to contain piracy in the Indian Ocean owing to the vast distances involved.

Ship industry associations have warned that over 40 percent of the world's seaborne oil supply passing through the Gulf of Aden and the Arabian Sea was at high risk from better equipped Somali pirates, who are able to operate further out at sea and for longer periods using mother ships, Reuters reports.

Somali pirates seize Mongolian-flagged bulk carrier

Somali pirates have seized a Mongolian-flagged bulk carrier off the coast of Oman, says the European Union Naval Force for Somalia (EU Navfor).

EU Navfor said the pirates hijacked MV Hoang Son Sun about 520 nautical miles southeast of the port of Muscat.

"The 22,835-tonne bulk carrier, which is Mongolian flagged and Vietnamese-owned, has a crew of 24 Vietnamese nationals. No further details of the attack are known at this stage," EU Navfor said in an online statement.

EU Navfor reported the ship was not registered with the Maritime Security Centre for the Horn of Africa, and had not reported to the UK Maritime Trade Operation. Both help vessels keep contact with a flotilla of warships patrolling the lucrative waters linking Europe with Asia, Reuters reports.

Pirates are raking in tens of millions of dollars in booty from seizing merchant ships in the region, despite the efforts by foreign navies to clamp down on the attacks.