Somali pirates attacked an American freighter with rockets to "destroy" the ship in revenge for an operation that freed a US captain last weekend, one of their commanders said.The freighter escaped the attack late on Tuesday, but more vessels have fallen into the hands of marauding Somali bandits. A French warship meanwhile intercepted a pirate "mother ship" and arrested 11 gunmen, the French defence ministry said.
"This attack was the first against our prime target," pirate commander Abdi Garad told AFP of the attack on the Liberty Sun freighter late on Tuesday.
"We intended to destroy this American-flagged ship and the crew on board but unfortunately they narrowly escaped us.
"The aim of this attack was totally different. We were not after a ransom. We also assigned a team with special equipment to chase and destroy any ship flying the American flag in retaliation for the brutal killing of our friends."
In another development on Wednesday, Greece said Somali pirates on Wednesday released the Greek-owned, St Vincent-flagged cargo ship that had been seized with its crew of 24 on March 19.
The Titan was sailing with a load of iron from the Black Sea to South Korea when it was seized. The crew was in good health, the merchant marine ministry in Athens said.
Pirates have taken four ships since losing two battles with US and French forces at the weekend.
Their latest target was the Liberty Sun which was heading for the Kenyan port of Mombasa with international food aid, the owners said.
The USS Bainbridge, which mounted the operation to rescue the captain of US cargo Maersk Alabama, came to the rescue of the Liberty Sun, officials said.
Crew members gave a dramatic account of the attack.
"We are under attack by pirates, we are being hit by rockets. Also bullets," crewman Thomas Urbik told his mother in email messages, CNN television reported.
"We are barricaded in the engine room and so far no one is hurt. [A] rocket penetrated the bulkhead but the hole is small. Small fire, too, but put out."
Urbik said the US Navy escorted the ship to safety. "The navy has showed up we are now under military escort," he wrote.
Garad said the attack was revenge for the weekend operation that freed Maersk Alabama captain Richard Phillips and killed three pirates.
Phillips was taken hostage on a lifeboat after his crew managed to overpower pirates who had hijacked the ship. The crew left Kenya's Mombasa port on Wednesday for home, an airport official told AFP.
The captain was freed in a spectacular Navy Seals operation Sunday which prompted US President Barack Obama to pledge tough action in the fight against piracy.
According to sources close to the pirates, French ships were also prime targets following the weekend rescue of the Tanit yacht in which a hostage and two pirates were killed.
Three Somali pirates arrested during the French military rescue operation were taken to France on Tuesday and put in custody.
On Wednesday, a French warship with an EU anti-piracy force intercepted a pirate "mother ship" and arrested 11 gunmen whom they had been pursuing since the previous day.
"The pirates were sailing a 10m mother ship carrying 17 drums holding 200 litres of fuel each and two assault skiffs," a French defence ministry spokesman said.
French commandos had already launched rescue operations in two previous cases over the past year, killing and capturing pirates.
But pirates were swift to brush off their recent losses and have attacked four more ships since.
"The pirates were sailing a 10m mother ship carrying 17 drums holding 200 litres of fuel each and two assault skiffs," a French defence ministry spokesman said.
At least 17 ships and close to 300 crew are being held by Somali pirates. Ten of the ships have been taken this month.
Experts predicted that pirate attacks and hijackings in the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean would continue at a similar rate for at least another two weeks on the back of calm sea conditions.
In a statement, the top UN envoy to Somalia, Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, said robust naval operations "are sending a strong message to the pirates and, more importantly, to their backers who are exploiting the poverty and desperation of their young, unemployed compatriots."
So far Somali pirates have sought to release ships for ransoms and have not killed any hostages. But their attacks have prompted naval powers to deploy ships to patrol pirate-infested waters.
Somalia has gone through close to two decades of war and lawless chaos which have made piracy one of the few viable businesses.
16 Apr 2009Since this is an act of TERRORISM against AMERICA,
Team America World Police MUST level Somalia like they are doing with Afghanistan.
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