U.S.-led forces seize Iraqi ship, track second

Reuters ^ | 4-6-03

[Prince Charles]

06 Apr 2003 11:24:23 GMT U.S.-led forces seize Iraqi ship, track second

DUBAI, April 6 (Reuters) - U.S.-led forces have captured an Iraqi naval vessel and are tracking a second to prevent them from laying mines in the Gulf, a U.S. navy spokesman said on Sunday.

The seizure of the ship may help dispel fears that shipping operations in the Gulf, which provides 40 percent of world crude exports, could come under attack.

"The first vessel, the al Shorook, was located in the northern Gulf two days ago and boarded by coalition forces," said Lt Garrett Kasper of the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet.

"That particular threat has been eliminated." He did not say whether any mines had been found on board. The Iraqi ship al Fateh al Mobeen could also be towing a barge or barges to lay mines and was being tracked, Kasper said.

There is a massive U.S.-British naval presence in the Gulf and there have been no attacks on military or merchant shipping in the region since war erupted on Iraq on March 20.

[Solamente]

What happened to those ships we were tracking in the Indian Ocean, operating illegally with radio silence?

[Bluntpoint]

Iraqi ships? Do they have bow mounted of transom mounted Minn Kotas?

[John H K]

What happened to those ships we were tracking in the Indian Ocean, operating illegally with radio silence?

It is unfathomable to me that people don't consider the possibility that those ships never existed in the first place.