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As Somalian pirates continue to hold seven Indian merchant sailors hostage, the Indian Navy, in what is a possible retaliatory posture, today diverted a warship from anti-piracy patrolling duties to station it off the coast of Somalia in North-eastern Africa. On Friday pirates released eight of the 15 Indian sailors held hostage since September last year. Seven other Indians, which includes six officers, have been held back despite the pirates having got an undisclosed sum as ransom from the owners of the merchant ship MV Asphalt Venture. The ship was hijacked in September last year when it was on its...

Toughening its stand on the Indian sailors hostage crisis in Somalian waters, the Indian Navy today sent a Talwar class frigate to the Somalia coast to deal with any exigency during ongoing negotiations, even as the government rejected the pirates' offer for a swap with captured brigands. Overseas Indian Affairs minister Vayalar Ravi said the Indian government rejected the swap offer made by Somali pirates in order to get the abducted Indian sailors freed. The Government, he told mediapersons here, would not bargain with pirates for the release of the sailors, and added that his Ministry was coordinating with the...

MOGADISHU, Somalia – In a move that could change the pirate-hostage equation, Somali pirates on Friday took in a multimillion dollar ransom, then released the ship and some of the crew but kept all the Indian crew members as hostages. A pirate told The Associated Press the Indian crew members' hostage ordeal is being prolonged in retaliation for the arrests of more than 100 Somali pirates by the Indian Navy. "We decided to keep the Indian because India is holding our colleagues," the pirate, Hassan Farah, said. "We released the other crew members who sailed away from our coast. We...

After offering jobs and other incentives to the stone-pelting youth of Kashmir, New Delhi has now offered to entice the increasingly notorious Somali pirates by engaging them in projects and creating jobs for them in Somalia. The pirates have become a major threat to international shipping since 2000, when the second phase of the Somali civil war began. The International Maritime Organisation and the World Food Programme have said in reports that increasing incidents of piracy have contributed to an increase in shipping costs and have impeded the delivery of food aid shipments. India’s Minister for External Affairs SM Krishna,...

Five dozen pirates living on a hijacked ship serving as a roving pirate base jumped into the Arabian Sea on Monday after the Indian navy fired on the vessel in self-defense, the navy said Monday. The navy captured 61 pirates fleeing the battle and the fire that broke out aboard the hijacked vessel. The battle is the latest example of the piracy trade's turn toward increased violence. A pirate in Somalia threatened Indian sailors and the government with targeted attacks in retaliation for the arrests. The Indian navy said a patrol aircraft spotted the mothership Friday while responding to another...

The Indian Government is mulling over the idea of having armed escorts on merchant ships akin to those appointed in airlines in the wake of an increase in the number of attacks by Somali pirates. The decision is under consideration after Indian ship owners sought the government's permission to have guards on ships as a defensive mechanism. The hijacking of ships near the coast of Somalia has cost the shipping industry millions of dollars. Pirates have continued to attack foreign ships in the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean, defying an armada of warships trying to protect the key...

The Royal Navy is regularly allowing Somalian pirates to go free because of the risk they would claim asylum if prosecuted in Europe. Pirates terrorising ships in the Indian Ocean, looting and taking hostages, are often given medical checks and fed after being caught, before being sent of their way. This is also sometimes because although they are carrying guns and other weapons, they have not been caught in the act of piracy and therefore have not technically committed a crime. More than 340 suspected Somalian pirates have been captured by international naval forces in the last year and subsequently...

WASHINGTON, April 20 (Reuters) - The United States is unlikely to attack Somali pirate bases on land due to the risk of civilian deaths but it may help local authorities fight the scourge, a senior U.S. defense official said on Monday. Somali gangs have captured dozens of ships and earned tens of millions of dollars in ransom, pushing the issue up the U.S. security agenda, particularly after pirates tried to hijack a U.S.-flagged ship with an American crew this month. The brief seizure of the Maersk Alabama and the subsequent hostage drama involving the ship's captain have led to calls...