MOGADISHU (AFP)
Two pirates and a soldier died when forces from the Somali breakaway region of Puntland attacked pirates on Sunday holding a Somali cargo freighter, setting off clashes, an official said.
Four others, including another Puntland soldier, were wounded when the forces attempted to rescue MV Awail -- owned by a Somali trading company with a crew of 13 Syrians and two Somalis -- that was hijacked on Friday.
The fighting comes amid mounting international pressure over piracy in the waters around Somalia, with U.S. and international navies blockading a Ukrainian vessel loaded with tanks and weapons kidnapped by pirates last month.
"They surrounded the Somali ship this morning near Hafun area, where they exchanged fire with pirates killing two of them. One of our men also died," Muse Gelle Yusuf, the governor of Puntland's Bari region, said.
"Three pirates and a policeman were wounded," he told reporters by phone.
"We are expecting that forces will manage to free the ship in a few hours because the pirates onboard are few and they have been besieged."
Pirates grabbed the ship on Friday, some 360 kilometers (220 miles) from the shores of Puntland, and commandeered it to an area just off Hafun, a coastal fishing village.
At least 69 ships have been attacked by pirates off the coast of Somalia since the start of the year alone and almost half of them were successfully boarded and held for ransom.
The Gulf of Aden is one of the world's busiest maritime routes and under increasing surveillance from foreign warships, leading pirates to venture further out to catch their prey.
Delicate negotiations on a $10 million ransom for the Ukrainian ship's deadly cargo were placed on hold earlier Sunday amid a dispute over middlemen and their cut of the deal. |
