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Armed Islamists will attack pirates, says militant Last Updated: Friday, November 21, 2008 | 3:08 PM ET A group of armed Islamist militants is reportedly headed to a Somali port Friday to attack pirates holding hostage a massive Saudi Arabian oil tanker.Ships belonging to Muslim countries should not be seized, Abdelghafar Musa, a fighter with the Islamist group al-Shabab, told the Associated Press. This undated picture taken at an unknown location shows the Saudi oil supertanker MV Sirius Star, which has been hijacked by Somali pirates. (Christian Duys/Associated Press)"We are really sorry to hear that the Saudi ship has...

Nairobi, Kenya (CNSNews.com) – Because of escalating piracy, Africa’s high seas are fast becoming dominated by foreign navies, raising questions about African countries’ ability to secure their own waters. Some military analysts say the situation presents an opportunity for African nations to strengthen their own naval power and form regional alliances to police the high seas. Others predict that Africans will leave the policing to Western navies, because even African countries with effective navies have their own unique problems to deal with. Warships from the United States, other NATO members and Russia and India are attempting to secure the Indian...

Somali pirates built up their defences around a captured Saudi Arabian super-tanker Friday after demanding a 25 million dollar ransom. As foreign navies sent warships to Somalia's dangerous waters and shipping companies sought alternative routes, extra clan militia and other fighters were brought in at the pirate lair of Harardhere... "Some of them are inside the town and others are taking shelter in a nearby village and can be called if need be," ... He said the fighters had come from neighbouring Gulgudud and Mudug regions. Local militia and hardline Shebab fighters also arrived in Harardhere in what some residents...

November 20, 2008 HP-1283 Treasury Targets Somali Terrorists Washington, DC--The U.S. Department of the Treasury today designated three members of al-Shabaab, a violent and brutal extremist group in Somalia. "Today's action targets three leaders of al-Shabaab, an al Qaida-linked terrorist group that uses lethal tactics to undermine peace and civil society in Somalia," said Adam Szubin, director of Treasury Office of Foreign Assets Control. "These terrorist commanders have had direct involvement in the kidnappings and cold-blooded murders of numerous Somali officials and civilians and they should be cut off from the world's financial system." Al-Shabaab has used intimidation and violence...

A Somali pirate and a former US defense secretary are flying to London for vacation. One of them is stopped at immigration at Heathrow airport and arrested on suspicion of committing war crimes. Which one do you think it was? On Tuesday, Somali pirates, sailing in little more than motorized bathtubs, armed with automatic rifles and rocket-propelled grenades, and sustained by raw fish and narcotics, successfully hijacked the Sirius Star, a Saudi-owned oil tanker the size of a US aircraft carrier. The tanker was carrying some $100 million worth of crude oil. News of its capture caused global oil prices...

Somali pirates have been paid more than $150m (£101m) in ransoms in the past 12 months, Kenya's foreign minister says. "That is why they are becoming more and more audacious in their activities," Moses Wetangula said, urging the world to take urgent action. He said it was affecting all countries involved in international trade. Ninety-five attacks have been recorded off the Somali coast this year, including the recent capture of a Saudi tanker carrying a $100m cargo of oil. A reported ransom demand of $25m (£17m) for the MV Sirius Star was denied by the company conducting the negotiations with...

A Yorkshire mariner who took on a gang of pirates and lived to tell the tale tells Sarah Freeman how theft on the high seas was allowed to become big business. John Bailey is not a natural diplomat. As careful negotiations were continuing to secure the safe release of the crew of the hijacked Sirius Star, the Hornsea mariner's own suggestion for dealing with the growing problem of piracy is rather more blunt. "You don't stop pirates by talking to them," he says with the kind of pragmatism which comes after decades at sea. "You stop them by aiming guns...

At a dinner party last night, a friend mentioned one of the piracy incidents included a dirty bomb; specifically, that the plan was to sail the vessel to an Israeli port where it would be detonated. No mention of this has been made in the media. Coverup conspiracy? Bad rumor?

MOGADISHU (Reuters) – Dozens of Somali Islamist insurgents entered a port on Friday in search of the pirate group behind the seizure of a Saudi supertanker that was the world's biggest hijack, a local elder said. Separately, police in the capital Mogadishu said they ambushed and shot dead 17 Islamist militants, in the latest illustration of the chaos in the Horn of Africa country that has fueled a dramatic surge in piracy. The Sirius Star -- a Saudi vessel with a $100 million oil cargo and 25-man crew from the Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Croatia, Poland and Britain -- is believed...

President Bush has been "briefed," as they say, about the extraordinary spate of Somali piracy that culminated this week in the seizure of the Sirius Star. Incredibly, this Saudi supertanker loaded with crude oil destined for the United States now joins a commandeered fleet of about a dozen ships and 200 crew being held by Somali pirates who, according to Jane's Terrorism and Security Monitor, may well have links to jihadists. I'm wondering whether President Bush, at any point in his briefing, ever thought to ask his experts: "What is up with Somalia?" I say this given the disjointed but...

Larger Indian warship to fight pirates off Aden New Delhi (IANS): The Indian Navy will be sending guided-missile destroyer INS Mysore to the Gulf of Aden for patrolling the waterways hit by a spate of ship hijackings by Somali pirates, defence sources said Thursday. The move comes after a successful hostile action against Somali pirates in the area by the Indian Navy. A Delhi class destroyer, INS Mysore will replace INS Tabar in the Gulf of Aden, a Navy official told IANS on condition of anonymity. He said the destroyer will set sail from Mumbai soon. The official said a...

NEW DELHI: India, which is planning to send four more warships to the Gulf of Aden, has already conveyed to Somalia that it will use all necessary means to fight pirates who have targeted merchant ships passing through one of the world’s strategic shipping lanes off the coast of Somalia. ``We have conveyed through the Permanent Representative of Somalia (in the UN) of our desire to use all necessary mean to repress acts of piracy,’’ secretary (east) in the ministry of external affairs N Ravi said. The Indian Navy had sunk a pirate ship in the Gulf of Aden in...

Blackbeard's sloop Adventure was anchored on the inner side of Ocracoke Island. Maynard's sloops guided by local pilots, arrived in the area at dusk on Thursday, November 21 where they decided to wait for the tide and attack the next morning. At first light the sloops weighed anchor and crept toward the island. Maynard ordered some men to take a small boat and row ahead of the sloop as there was so little wind. As they approached the pirate ship they received a volley of shot. The boat hastily retreated back to the protection of the sloops. The pirate ship...

ARLINGTON, Va. — To hell with pirates: The Defense Department isn’t going to re-route ships to avoid the Gulf of Aden. "We’re not going around the Cape of Good Hope," Pentagon Press Secretary Geoff Morrell said Wednesday. Several shipping companies this week announced they would do just that, in an effort to avoid pirates lurking in the waters off Somalia. But the U.S. government is not considering such an option for its ships. "Ultimately that’s not the solution to this," Morrell said. "And that, to me — in scenarios like that, the pirates win. And they should not be allowed...

The battle with pirates operating off the coast of Somalia grew yesterday when raiders seized two more ships but lost one of their own in an uneven firefight with the Indian Navy. The International Maritime Bureau (IMB) described the situation yesterday as “out of control”. The surge in hijackings came as Saudi Arabia confirmed that a ransom demand had been made for the freeing of the Sirius Star supertanker, seized at the weekend with her crew of 25 and a cargo of oil worth $100 million (£65 million). Two more vessels – a Thai fishing boat with a crew of...

Possible terrorism in the making? http://www.thebulletin.us/site/index.cfm?newsid=20202559&BRD=2737&PAG=461&dept_id=576361&rfi=8

THE pirates who hijacked the fully laden Saudi oil supertanker Sirius Star have demanded $US25million ($39.3million) in ransom and have set a 10-day deadline. Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister, Prince Saud al-Faisal, said countries avoided negotiating with terrorists or hijackers but the final decision rested with the owners of the ship. "I know that the owners of the tanker, they are negotiating on the issue," the prince said in Rome. The company that operates the Sirius Star has remained tight-lipped about a ransom, citing the safety of the crew. Mihir Sapur, a spokesman for Vela International, a subsidiary of Saudi oil...

WASHINGTON: Citing the Indian Navy's sinking of a pirate ship in the Gulf of Aden, the US has said action is taking place to deal with the problem of piracy in the international system. "The issue of piracy is a concern to us as well as others in the international system," US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Wednesday, noting: "The issue of piracy has been with us, as an international system, unfortunately, for quite some time." Asked about reports that the owners of a hijacked Saudi supertanker were in talks over a possible ransom, he said: "I'm going to...

India mulls increase in number of warships to fight pirates New Delhi (PTI): With its operations to bust piracy in the Gulf of Aden meeting with success this week, India on Thrusday said it was considering augmenting naval assets to fight the threat to peaceful commercial shipping in the region. "Yes, we are considering a proposal to increase the number of warships in Gulf of Aden to fight the pirates and to protect merchant ships flying the Indian flag," a top Navy officer said here. India currently has a stealth guided missile frigate in the Gulf of Aden and the...