India to deploy aircraft against pirates: report

PILLAGING PIRATES

Indian navy captures 23 pirates in Gulf of Aden
The Indian navy said it has captured 23 Somali and Yemeni pirates who attacked a merchant vessel in the Gulf of Aden on Saturday. An Indian navy ship sent its marine commandos on a helicopter towards the Ethiopian flag-bearing vessel MV Gibe after getting a distress call from it as it came under fire from two boats, the navy said in a statement. The boats tried to escape on seeing the navy ship but were chased and the pirates surrendered to the commandos when they boarded the boats. "Twenty-three personnel (12 Somali and 11 Yemeni) surrendered on boarding," the navy said. The pirates, along with their arms and equipment, would be handed over to the appropriate authorities, it said, adding that the ship would return to patrolling the Gulf of Aden. Last month, the navy said it had sunk a pirate "mother vessel" off Somalia in a battle that erupted after the Indian ship INS Tabar came under attack from gunmen on board the boat. But the International Maritime Bureau later said that the vessel destroyed by the Indian navy was actually a Thai fishing trawler that had been seized by pirates off Yemen. Somali pirates have carried out around 100 attacks in the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean since the start of this year. They still hold at least 14 foreign vessels and more than 300 crew members to ransom. Photo courtesy AFP.

by Staff Writers
New Delhi (AFP) Dec 14, 2008
India is to station a naval surveillance aircraft in the Gulf of Aden to boost its anti-piracy efforts in the region, a newspaper report on Sunday quoted a military officer as saying.

The plans come after an Indian warship on patrol in the region captured 23 Somali and Yemeni pirates trying to hijack an Ethiopian flag-bearing merchant vessel.

"Our plan is to base a maritime reconnaissance aircraft at Djibouti," the Times of India quoted the unnamed senior naval officer as saying.

There was no immediate official confirmation of the report.

The navy said that on Saturday its warship Mysore had dispatched helicopter-borne commandos to help the MV Gibe, which had sent a distress call as it came under fire from two pirate boats.

The commandos captured 23 pirates and recovered a large cache of arms including assault rifles and a rocket-propelled grenade launcher along with loaded magazines, cartridges and grenades, a navy statement said.

New Delhi first deployed warships in the Gulf of Aden, one of the busiest but most pirate-infested shipping lanes in the world, in October after a merchant vessel with Indian crew was taken hostage by pirates.

Somali pirates have carried out around 100 attacks in the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean since the start of this year. They still hold at least 14 foreign vessels and more than 300 crew members.

Last month, India's anti-piracy tactics were questioned when the International Maritime Bureau said an Indian ship had destroyed a Thai fishing trawler instead of a pirate vessel as the navy claimed.

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PILLAGING PIRATES

Piracy cannot be solved by force alone, Pentagon warns

Washington (AFP) Dec 12, 2008
The Pentagon warned Friday that piracy rampant in the Horn of Africa cannot be solved by force alone, as the United States circulated a draft UN resolution to chase pirates even on Somali soil.

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