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British ships are to be allowed to carry armed guards to protect them from pirates, David Cameron has announced. A legal ban on weapon-toting protection staff will be relaxed so that firms can apply for a licence to have them on board in danger zones. The Prime Minister said radical action was required because the increasing ability of sea-borne Somali criminals to hijack and ransom ships had become "a complete stain on our world". ... Under the plans, the Home Secretary will be given the power to license vessels to carry armed security, including automatic weapons, currently prohibited under firearms...

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — A team of suicide bombers and gunmen disguised as soldiers assaulted an African Union base in the Somali capital on Saturday, sparking a two-hour gunfight that left at least 10 people dead, security officials said. The al-Qaida-linked Islamist militant group that claimed the attack said one of the bombers was Somali-American. The attack underscored the militants' ability to carry out complex and deadly operations even after AU troops forced them from most of Mogadishu and a famine in their strongholds weakened their forces. Earlier this month, Kenya sent troops into Somalia following a string of cross-border...

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A Minnesota man has pleaded guilty to a terror-related charge for helping recruit men to travel to Somalia to take up arms with the terror group al-Shabab. Twenty-six-year-old Omer Abdi Mohamed pleaded guilty Monday to one count of conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists.

This is how you do it:  nab the perps, tie 'em up, put them back on their own boat, then set the whole kit and kaboodle on fire and.... pooof, no more pirates. The video below shows Russian Navy commandos on a Somali pirate ship shortly after the pirates had captured a Russian oil tanker. A number of commands directed at the prisoners are heard from from an English-speaking Russian, i.e. when the commandos find a weapons stash ("WTF??!")- and "This is not a fishing boat!"The soldiers immediately freed their compatriots and the Russian oil tanker. They moved the pirates...

President Obama is extending full constitutional due-process rights to a Somali terrorist. This sets a troubling precedent. Ahmed Abdulkadir Warsame was captured sometime in April on a boat traveling between Yemen and Somalia. He was detained on board a U.S. warship for two months and interrogated by intelligence officials. He reportedly revealed a great deal of valuable information regarding his connections to the Somalia-based al-Shabab militant group and the Yemen-based al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. So far, so good. (Snip) The Warsame indictment is an end run around Congress, which last year voted to bar the transfer of terrorist

Republicans are blasting the Obama administration for detaining a Somali terror suspect for two months aboard a U.S. warship before flying him to New York over the July Fourth holiday to face charges in a civilian trial. Ahmed Abdulkadir Warsame, who has ties to the Al Qaeda-linked group al-Shabaab, was captured April 19 in the Horn of Africa region, possibly in Yemen. At his arraignment in New York Tuesday, he pleaded not guilty to the nine charges he's been indicted on by a federal grand jury, including providing material support to a terrorist organization. "The Obama administration won't detain terrorists...

Another Somali man is charged in Minnesota in connection with the travels of young men who are thought to have joined a terror group in their homeland. Ahmed Hussein Mahamud was arrested Thursday in Columbus, Ohio, and made his initial appearance in federal court there on charges of providing material support to terrorists. An indictment unsealed Thursday says that from April 2009 to July 2009, Mahamud provided money and personnel to al-Shabab.

Abdirahman Warsame at Terror Free Somalia informed us late last night that messages appearing on known al-Shabaab websites indicate that a suicide bomber who carried out on attack on AMISOM forces in Mogadishu on Monday was a Somali-American from the Minneapolis area. A twenty-two minute audio was posted on the Somali Memo website (article and audio have since disappeared) that included a segment of an English-speaking Somali speaker — apparently the suicide bomber — who encourages Muslims in the West to “die for their religion.” Another article on Somali Memo identifies the speaker as Asadullahi Axmed “al-Imriiki” (“the American”), a...

A retired couple who were enjoying a luxury cruise fought off Somali pirates with deck chairs as they attempted to storm the ship and kidnap them. John and Barbara Jeffery had been enjoying the trip of a lifetime when the violent pirates tried to take over the ship they were sailing on. As gun shot rang out, the couple defiantly armed themselves with deck chairs, tables and whatever came to hand as they helped to beat off the outlaws. terror struck just one week in, when the MSC Melody was off the coast of Somalia, a spot haunted by pirates,...

Residents believe the attacks targeted mosques run by al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab rebels, blamed for a roadside bombing a few hours before that killed a prominent cleric who was also a senior Puntland government official. ... "It appears to be a declaration of religious war," Mohamed Ali Yusuf, a Puntland security official... Earlier Saturday, a prominent moderate Sufi cleric who was a senior official in Puntland's justice and religion ministry was killed in the city after a remote controlled bomb exploded near his car, hours before the first mosque attack. "I have no doubt that al Shabaab is responsible for...

Dutch marines have killed two suspected Somali pirates and captured 16 others, the Dutch defence ministry says. The alleged pirates were captured in an operation to free a hijacked Iranian fishing boat off the coast of Somalia. The marines came under fire when they approached the fishing boat, the ministry said. The suspected pirates are being questioned on board a Dutch warship which is taking part in a Nato anti-piracy mission in the Gulf of Aden. Ten suspected pirates were caught as they tried to escape in a high-speed vessel and six were detained on the fishing boat. It is...

ADDIS ABABA — While much of the world’s attention is focusing on crude oil prices and the Libyan pipelines in the east of the country– human right groups say rebels are committing crimes against humanity. In east Libya, African hunt began as towns and cities began fall under the control of Libyan rebels, mobs and gangs. They started to detain, insult, rape and even executing black immigrants, students and refugees. In the past two weeks, more than 100 Africans from various Sub-Sahara states are believed to have been killed by Libyan rebels and their supporters. According to Somali refugees in...

Drug Travels From Africa To Indianapolis In 48 Hours. Most residents of Indianapolis, including many in the law enforcement community, have never heard of the drug called khat...over the past three years, hundreds of pounds of the drug have been sold on the streets of Indianapolis, mostly to people of African descent... Khat is a plant that grows plentifully in east Africa, specifically in Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia. Users chew the leaves of the plant to release a compound called cathinone, which is considered a "schedule 1" amphetamine and hallucinogen under U.S. law... traffickers used cell phones and sophisticated code...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Five Somali men were sentenced on Monday to spend the rest of their lives in a U.S. prison after being convicted of piracy and trying to attack an American warship off the coast of Africa last year. In November the group was convicted by a jury in a federal court in Virginia on charges of piracy, attacking to plunder a vessel and various other firearms and weapons charges. Piracy off the coast of Somalia has been a growing problem over the last several years, with pirate gangs making tens of millions of dollars in ransoms, .. The...

Somali pirates said on Sunday they would lower some of their ransom demands to get a faster turnover of ships they hijack in the Indian Ocean. Armed pirate gangs, who have made millions of dollars capturing ships as far south as the Seychelles and eastwards towards India, said they were holding too many vessels and needed a quicker handover to generate more income. “I believe there is no excuse for taking high ransoms. At least each of our groups holds ships now,” pirate Hussein told Reuters from Hobyo on the Somalian coast. He said the pirates were holding more than...

U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn., will not be the only Minnesotan starring in this week's congressional hearings on homegrown Islamic radicalization. Also at the witness table will be Abdirizak Bihi, director of the Somali Education and Social Advocacy Center in Minneapolis. Bihi has publicly criticized Ellison's handling of the disappearance of some 20 Somali youths recruited by an Al-Qaida-linked group in their native country. One of them was his Bihi's nephew.

Four Americans, including a Seattle couple, aboard a private yacht hijacked by Somali pirates are dead this morning, and readers reacting to the CBS story on-line are wondering why any of the pirates were taken alive. Likewise, after the Seattle Times caught up with the story at about 7:25 a.m., it didn’t take long for readers to suggest that the pirates be taught a lesson. The incident is hardly a first in that part of the world. Somali pirates have been emboldened by the willingness of some victims to pay outrageous ransoms. Reports indicate that negotiations were underway between the...

While preparing to write my fictional account of the voyage of the Neko II around Africa, which Mr. Farago has been good enough to publish in serial on this site, I spent countless hours researching and reading the accounts of people fortunate enough to sail the globe in private yachts. One of the blogs I stumbled across and drew inspiration from was that of Scott and Jean Adam and their Davidson 58 pilot house sloop, s/v Quest. One of my story’s plot points involved a brush with Somali pirates. No metaphor about art, life, imitation, or the strangeness of fiction...

NAIROBI, Kenya – Pirates in Somalia said Wednesday they are ferrying ammunition and men to the 30 hijacked vessels still under their control, and they threatened to kill more captives following the violent end to a hostage standoff that left four Americans dead. The U.S. military said that 15 pirates detained after the Americans were slain Tuesday could face trial in the United States.

Somali pirates murder 4 Americans in cold blood but Navy captured 13 pirates alive by Bill Levinson As reported by the Christian Science Monitor, Somali pirates killed four American captives while the United States was negotiating peacefully for their release. US Central Command said four Navy warships were deployed in an effort to secure the Americans' release, and "negotiations were ongoing" when the shooting occurred at 1 a.m. today. Upon hearing gunfire, US forces boarded the Quest and confronted the pirates, capturing 13 and killing two. Attempts to revive the four Americans were unsuccessful and all four died from the...