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An Australian naval ship has thwarted an attack on a merchant vessel in the Gulf of Aden, off the coast of Yemen, by suspected Somali pirates armed with a rocket propelled grenade launcher. The HMAS Toowoomba answered an emergency call from merchant vessel BBC Portugal after it sighted an armed boat approaching on Sept. 20, Australia's Department of Defence said today in a faxed statement. Along with the grenade launcher, staff from the Toowoomba found six AK47 assault rifles, a G3 assault rifle and a large quantity of ammunition. Somali pirates venturing out to sea as monsoon winds abate are...

TEHRAN, July 30 (UPI) -- Iran has deployed a flotilla of warships and support vessels into the Gulf of Aden, the second in recent weeks, and says it also plans to establish a new naval base in the Gulf of Oman, at the southern end of the chokepoint Strait of Hormuz. This expanding naval activity by the Iranians may be intended to counter a recent increase in Israeli naval deployments. It also takes place against a backdrop of widening political turmoil in Tehran following the disputed re-election of hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on June 12 that has caused international unease...

SOMALI pirates fired in the air in jubilation after receiving a $1.8 million ransom in exchange for the release of a German-owned vessel and its 11-member crew. Somali sea gangs, operating in the strategic shipping lanes linking Asia and Europe, have made millions of dollars in ransom from hijacking vessels in the Indian Ocean and Gulf of Aden. "We have taken a $1.8 million ransom and released the German ship," pirate Ahmed said from a lair in the town of Eyl on the Somali coast. The 146-metre MV Victoria, an Antigua and Barbuda-flagged cargo vessel, was hijacked by eight pirates...

Pirates who hijacked an Iranian ship have become sick and some have died after coming into contact with the ships’ cargo. The 40 pirates hijacked the M.V. Deyanat in the Gulf of Aden. The Sunday Times reported that the pirates became ill, suffered apparent skin burns and lost hair. The Director of the East African Seafarer’s Assistance Programme, Andrew Mwangira, said We don’t know exactly how many, but the information that I am getting is that some of them had died. There is something very wrong about that ship. The ship, which is owned by the Islamic Republic of Iran...

Tehran: Iran has sent six warships to international waters, including the Gulf of Aden, to show its ability to confront any foreign threats, its naval commander said on Monday. Admiral Habibollah Sayyari, quoted by the ISNA news agency, made the announcement five days after Iran said it test-fired a surface-to-surface missile with a range of 2,000 kilometres, putting Israel and US bases in the area within reach. Meanwhile, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad yesterday rejected a Western proposal for it to "freeze" its nuclear work in return for no new sanctions and ruled out any talks with major powers on the...

Iran has sent six warships into international waters in a move security experts are calling a "muscle flexing" show of defiance following missile tests last week."Iran has dispatched six ... warships to international waters and the Gulf of Aden region in a historically unprecedented move by the Iranian Navy," Iranian Adm. Habibollah Sayyari told a gathering of armed forces officials, Reuters reported. Sayyari said the ships were moved to preserve Iran's territorial integrity in its southern waters, but foreign policy experts are calling it an aggressive move targeted at a Western audience as much as for regional powers like...

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran has sent six warships to international waters, including the Gulf of Aden, to show its ability to confront any foreign threats, its naval commander said on Monday. Admiral Habibollah Sayyari, quoted by the ISNA news agency, made the announcement five days after Iran said it test-fired a surface-to-surface missile with a range of 2,000 km (1,200 miles), putting Israel and U.S. bases in the area within reach. Iran said on May 14 it had sent two warships to the Gulf of Aden to protect oil tankers from the world's fifth-largest crude exporter against attacks by pirates...

TWO Australian warships have rushed to the aid of a freighter under attack in the Gulf of Aden from pirates. HMAS Sydney and HMAS Ballarat responded to a distress call from the merchant vessel, MV Dubai Princess, at about 6pm yesterday. Upon receiving the distress call, the Sydney closed in on the merchant vessel and launched a helicopter to assess the situation, while the Ballarat went to action stations. As the situation developed, another merchant vessel, MV MSC Stella, was also harassed by small vessels in the same area. The head of the Australian Defence Force, Air Chief Marshal Angus...

Perhaps purely motivated by profit, Somalian pirates are shuttling weapons and terrorists in and out of the country and sharing up to fifty-percent of the ransoms with al-Shabab, what it reaps from hijacking ships. Formed as the Islamic Courts Union's (ICU) military wing, al-Shabab announced in March its affiliation with al Qaeda after regaining control of most of southern Somalia earlier this year when Ethiopia withdrew its forces. Southern Somalia is now under the control of Shabaab and other Islamist groups. Click image to enlarge. Map used with permission. Read the story at The Long War JournalThe Weekly Standard's Thomas...

PIRATES resumed their ship hijackings this morning, after several attackers were killed by US and French commandos in freeing captives over the weekend. The Greek-operated, 35,000dwt drybulk carrier Irene was hijacked early this morning in the Gulf of Aden off Somalia, maritime officials told the BBC. It was April’s ninth hijacking in the gulf and Indian Ocean since the start of the month, the Kenya-based East African Seafarers Assistance Programme told the AFP news agency, which identified the vessel as Irene, flagged in Saint-Vincent and the Grenadines. The attack, but not the ship’s name, was confirmed by the MSC HOA...

Pirates have hijacked a tanker off the coast of Somalia, maritime officials say, days after several pirates were killed by US and French forces. In the latest in a string of attacks by pirates seeking ransom payments, a freighter named as the MV Irene was taken in the Gulf of Aden..... [snip]

Pirates seize 10 Italians in U.S.-owned tugboat 11 Apr 2009 By Duncan Miriri NAIROBI, April 11 (Reuters) - Pirates captured a U.S.-owned and Italian-flagged tugboat with 16 crew including 10 Italians on Saturday in the latest hijacking in the busy Gulf of Aden. "We can confirm that 10 Italians were kidnapped but we have no further details," an Italian foreign ministry official said. Andrew Mwangura, of the Mombasa-based East African Seafarers' Assistance Programme, said the crew were believed to be unharmed on the tugboat, which he added was operated from the United Arab Emirates.

Somali pirates have hijacked a US-owned tugboat in the Gulf of Aden with 16 crew on board, reports say. Maritime industry sources say the tug, which sails under an Italian flag, was towing two barges at the time of the attack, at 1100 local time (0800 GMT). The crew are said to be unharmed. The US and Italian governments have not confirmed the hijacking. Meanwhile pirates holding a US captain hostage have warned that using force to rescue him could result in "disaster". The pirates said they hoped to transfer Capt Richard Phillips from a lifeboat to a bigger vessel,...

COVERT RADIO SHOW http://www.covertradioshow.com http://covertradioshow.com/podcast.cfm?pid=171 COVERT RADIO SHOW.com: "The Daily Blast" "Sure the Pirates lost the American Ship, but the real problems remain"

BEIJING, April 6 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's Admiral Vinogradov destroyer arrived on Monday in the Chinese port of Zhanjiang on an official visit that followed a three-month tour of duty in the Gulf of Aden. The destroyer, accompanied by the Boris Butoma tanker, is on its way to its home base in Vladivostok after participating in anti-piracy operations off the Somali coast. The first-ever visit of Russian naval vessels to Zhanjiang will last until April 10, and is to involve a number of cultural and sporting events. The Admiral Vinogradov is an Udaloy class missile destroyer, armed with anti-ship missiles,...

Pirates who attacked a ship off the coast of Somalia got more than they bargained for when it turned out to be a naval vessel The pirates apparently mistook the FGS Spessart for a commercial merchant ship when they targeted it in the Gulf of Aden, between Somalia and Yemen. The German supply ship pursued the pirate boat, joined by two other ships, a frigate, a helicopter and a plane. A boarding team discovered several weapons and transferred seven suspected pirates on to another German frigate.

Note: The following text is a quote: http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=53357 Defense Leaders to Congress: Piracy Begins On Land By Samantha L. Quigley American Forces Press Service WASHINGTON, March 5, 2009 – The root cause of maritime piracy resides on land, and halting it requires an international solution, the Defense Department’s head of African Affairs told a congressional panel today. “The absence of a strong government in Somalia remains the single greatest challenge to regional security,” Daniel Pike, acting principal director of African Affairs, said in testimony before the House Armed Services Committee. “[It] provides freedom of action for those engaged in piracy...

AT SEA ABOARD USS VELLA GULF, Feb. 11, 2009 – The crew of the guided-missile cruiser USS Vella Gulf apprehended seven pirates in the Gulf of Aden today after responding to a distress call from a nearby merchant vessel. The event marks the first time Combined Task Force 151, a multinational effort to fight piracy in the region, has apprehended suspected pirates, U.S. Naval Forces Central Command officials said. At about 3 p.m., the Marshall Islands-flagged motor vessel Polaris sent a distress call to all ships in the area, reporting that a small skiff containing seven suspected pirates had...

AT SEA ABOARD USS SAN ANTONIO, Jan. 21, 2009 – Navy and Coast Guard boarding teams are working together to ensure safe operations in the Gulf of Aden, Arabian Sea, Red Sea and Indian Ocean as part of Combined Task Force 151, a multinational counter-piracy task force. Coast Guard and Navy teams board suspect vessels to detect, deter and disrupt piracy activities. "This is a law-enforcement operation to deter piracy and make the waters safe for all nations," Coast Guard Lt. j.g. Greg Ponzi, officer in charge for Coast Guard Law Enforcement Detachment 405, said. Each boarding team for CTF...

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) - Five of the Somali pirates who released a hijacked oil-laden Saudi supertanker drowned with their share of a reported $3 million ransom after their small boat capsized, a pirate and a relative of one of the dead men said Saturday. Pirate Daud Nure said the boat with eight people on board overturned in a storm after dozens of pirates left the Sirius Star following a two-month standoff in the Gulf of Aden that ended Friday. He said five people died and three people reached shore after swimming for several hours. Daud Nure was not part of...