Suldaanka Posted November 8, 2006 ----- Islamists free hijacked UAE ship Nairobi - Forces loyal to Somalia's powerful Islamist movement stormed a ship hijacked by pirates off the Somali coast, freeing the vessel and its crew after a fierce gunbattle, a maritime source said on Wednesday. At least two of the six gunmen who had seized the United Arab Emirates-flagged MV Veesham 1 last week were reportedly seriously injured in late Tuesday's clash, but the 14 crew members were unharmed, the source said. "Reports indicate that two pirates are seriously injured following heavy gunfire between the Islamic militias and the pirates last night," said Andrew Mwangura of the Seafarers' Assistance Program in the Kenyan port of Mombasa. Mwangura, whose organisation monitors such incidents, said "all 14 crew members" - four Indians, four Sri Lankans, two Pakistanis, two Ethiopians and one Eritrean - "are safe and in high spirits." He said the ship was now en route to Mogadishu in the custody of Islamist forces that had moved toward the ship at the weekend after the pirates demanded a one-million-dollar ransom for the release of the vessel and its crew. The 2 285 ton MV Veesham 1 had been chartered to ship charcoal from Somalia to Dubai but was seized on October 2 near Adale, 95km north-east of Mogadishu, after it left the Somali port of El-Maan. Mwangura said the vessel had been freed in Indian Ocean waters between Islamist-held ports of Hobyo and Haradeere about 400km north of the capital. Its hijacking had raised fears of a resurgence in piracy in Somali waters after a several-month lull related to the rapid rise of the Islamists who have imposed strict Sharia law in areas they control and vowed to eliminate crime. Somali waters had been plagued by scores of piracy incidents between March 2005 and June, when the Islamists seized Mogadishu and then moved into much of southern and central Somalia. The spate of hijacking incidents off the unpatrolled 3 700km Somali coast, which included more than 40 attacks on vessels, prompted dire warnings from the International Maritime Bureau (IMB). But the Islamists, who are now girding for war against the country's weak government, have vowed to eradicate piracy and have taken control of several Somali ports from where pirates were known to operate. The latest hijacking took place just a day after a Kenyan court sentenced 10 Somalis to seven years in prison each after convicting them of piracy in a landmark trial. Somalia has been without a functioning central government since the 1991 ouster of strongman Mohamed Siad Barre and its two-year-old transitional government has been wracked by infighting and is now challenged by the Islamists. - Sapa-AFP Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Abwaan Posted November 8, 2006 Welldone to ICU. Obviously, they are doing what they so-called government couldn't. So, yaa dan u haya dalkan, inta caadifadda qabiilka dhinac la iskaga tuuro? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Chimera Posted November 8, 2006 lol so stubborn just find a new job walaalyaal it's futile Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
