Seychelles fights back - daring raid releases fishermen from Somalis

7:55 PM Mon 29 Mar 2010 GMT

'Pirates boats in the Gulf of Aden' .

While the stories emanating from the Somali pirate region are peppered with accounts of Somali pirates being captured and then released again, the tiny nation of Seychelles has decided that enough is enough.

A Seychelles coastguard vessel opened fire on Somali pirates holding six of its nationals and 21 Iranians during a daring high-seas military raid in the Indian Ocean Monday, a minister said. The Seychelles has recently passed a new law enabling their forces to 'go in pursuit of pirates'.

The six Seychellois fishermen were safe, said Joel Morgan, the island nation's minister for transport and environment in charge of anti-piracy, while the Iranians and the pirates were also rescued.

He explained that six Seychellois fishermen were captured by Somali pirates southeast of the archipelago's main island of Mahe over the weekend and transferred to an Iranian dhow that was earlier captured with its crew of 21.

'We got confirmation of that at approximately 9:00 am (0500 GMT) yesterday. We established a rescue mission,' Morgan told AFP by phone from the Seychellois capital Victoria.

The coastguard vessel Topaz set sail on Sunday with a Somali translator on board and reached the hijacking situation early Monday, as the pirates were 255 nautical miles northwest of Mahe, heading towards Somalia with the Seychellois ship -- the Galate -- in tow.

Pirate boat - Hobyo Boys - .. .

Morgan said the pirates ignored the coastguards' audio calls to release their hostages and likewise did not alter their course when warning shots were fired.

'We took the decision to open fire on the engine compartment, 10,000 12.7mm rounds were fired... and we continued our harassment operation until we achieved what we wanted, which was to set fire to the engine,' he said.

Morgan said all on board had to jump off the boat.

The EU's Navfor naval force issued a statement in Brussels saying the pirates threatened their hostages -- identified as the fishermen as well as 15 Iranians and six Pakistanis -- when the Topaz approached.

'Warning shots were fired so the pirates placed the hostages on the upper deck and appeared to be threatening them,' Navfor said.

'Topaz decided to use disabling gunfire... and the vessel was hit below the water line and it began to sink. All personnel jumped overboard and were rescued unharmed by the Topaz.'

A statement from the office of Seychellois President James Michel said one of the Iranian seamen suffered a gunshot wound to the arm.

Over the past year, ransom-hunting Somali pirates have drifted away from the heavily-patrolled Gulf of Aden to launch their attacks further out at sea.

The winter monsoon lifted in recent days, spurring a fresh spate of attacks by pirates able to venture hundreds of miles from their bases and approach their prey on relatively calm seas.

On Monday, pirates also seized the Panamanian-flagged MV Iceberg I and its crew of 24, just off the coast of Yemen, bringing to at least 17 the number of ships currently held by pirates, together with more than 200 seamen.

The Seychelles, whose economy relies heavily on tuna-fishing and tourism, has had several ships hijacked since 2008 and has since taken tough action to combat the scourge of piracy, with robust international backing.

'We were determined that such incidents do not repeat themselves, and it was important that the vessel not be allowed to reach Somalia,' Michel said in the statement.

Pirates on Tanit - .. .

Armed operations against pirates already holding hostages are rare, often seen as too dangerous.

'This is in line with the new law passed in Seychelles which allows us to go in pursuit of pirates... and today this was achieved without any loss of life,' Morgan said.

'This operation has dealt a serious blow to the way in which pirates operate by attacking unarmed vessels. We have shown we will not let them get away with it,' he said.

In April last year, French commandos launched a brazen operation to free a French family on the yacht Tanit, captured by Somali pirates. They rescued a young woman and her small child but accidentally killed the father.

by Sail-World Cruising/AFP

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