Somali pirates extend range, target tanker
NAIROBI - Somali pirates attacked an oil tanker and fired automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades yesterday farther out at sea than any previous assault, suggesting their capabilities are growing as they increase activity off East Africa.
Pirates in two skiffs fired at the Hong Kong-flagged BW Lion about 1,000 miles east of the Somali coast, the European Union Naval Force said.
The tanker’s captain increased speed and took evasive maneuvers, avoiding the attack, the force said. No casualties were reported. The naval force sent a plane from the Seychelles islands to investigate.
Pirates have launched increasingly bold attacks against vessels in the Indian Ocean and Gulf of Aden in hopes of capturing a ship and crew and collecting ransom. They hold more than 190 hostages, including a British couple seized from their yacht late last month.
The high-seas hijackings have increased after the recent end of the monsoon season despite an international armada of warships deployed by the United States, the European Union, NATO, Japan, South Korea, and China to patrol the region. US drones launched from nearby Seychelles are also patrolling for pirates.
Commander John Harbour, a spokesman for the EU’s antipiracy force, said it wasn’t immediately known whether the two skiffs had launched attacks from a larger mothership. He said the work by international navies had pushed pirates farther out to sea.
“The international transit corridor near the coast is becoming safer, but the pirates are taking fairly drastic action, carrying out attacks so far off the coast,’’ Harbour said. “Certainly our success to date has pushed the pirates out from their normal hunting grounds.’’
Spain raised the possibility of sending two captured Somali pirates home after trying them in Madrid - as a way to win the release of a Spanish trawler held by fellow brigands off the Horn of Africa. Pirates seized the ship Alakrana and its 36-member crew in the Indian Ocean Oct. 2, and besides a ransom they are demanding the release of the two colleagues caught the next day by Spanish naval forces.
