'BOUT TIME!
 

This was long overdue!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8584604.stm

'Pirate' dies as ship's guards repel attack off Somalia

A suspected pirate has been shot dead as private guards repelled an attack on a cargo ship off Somalia, in what may have been the first such incident.

The EU naval force (Navfor) says the suspect was found dead by a team from an EU warship which was responding to a distress call from the cargo ship.

Guards aboard the Panamanian-flagged MV Almezaan had returned fire after the ship was attacked, it added.

Six other suspected pirates were detained by a Spanish Navfor ship.


The ESPS Navarra found one pirate mother ship and two skiffs. The mother ship was destroyed after the suspects were taken into custody, Navfor said.

Navfor spokesman Cmdr John Harbour told the BBC News website that he believed there was strong evidence to prosecute the six suspects detained.

"All the evidence suggests that there was a fire-fight," he said.

Bullet-holes were found in the skiffs in which they were found, he added.

The owners of the cargo ship, which was en route to Mogadishu, were contacted and asked to comply with any subsequent prosecution, Cmdr Harbour said.

The waters off Somalia are among the most dangerous in the world for shipping, despite patrols from Navfor and other foreign naval forces.

'Small-calibre gunshots'

The Navarra received a distress signal early on Tuesday from a merchant ship off the Somali coast and sped to the area, Navfor said in a statement.


Pirates had launched an attack on the MV Almezaan. This was successfully repelled by members of an "armed private vessel protection detachment" on board the ship, who returned fire.

A second attack was also repelled and the pirates fled the area, Navfor said.

A helicopter from the Navarra sighted the suspected pirates' boats and ordered them to stop, firing warning shots when they refused to do so.

When a team from the Navarra boarded the vessels, they found three suspected pirates in one skiff and three in the second, along with the body of a fourth man.


The body was transferred to the Navarra and an investigation indicated that the individual had died from small-calibre gunshot wounds, Navfor said.

A number of suspected Somali pirates have been killed by international forces during rescue operations but this is thought to be the first time private security guards have killed a pirate in defence of a ship.

Pirates are known to use fire-arms and rocket-propelled grenades in their attacks on ships but rarely harm the crews of vessels they capture.

Several organisations, including the International Maritime Bureau (IMB), have expressed concern that the use of armed security contractors could encourage pirates to be more violent when taking a ship.

Somalia has not had a functioning government for nearly two decades and analysts believe that attacks on shipping will continue as long as there is no central government capable of taking on the pirate gangs. __________________

It needs to happen to more of them... I still think an AC-130 attack on the pirate villages once a week would stop this nonsense fairly quickly.

I hate these guys, I love hearing news like this! I have zero sympathy for these "people". The UN should put together a force and just start burning their coastal towns to the ground for all I care.

Cruising World had a really good story about a German couple who were captured by these guys. Animals.:mad:


We need to dust off some of the old tools we used to get rid of pirates a couple hundred years ago, the worked well. For starters the US government should issue a Letter of Marque...now its open season on the pirates!:D

The idea is good but it's open to abuse by people who will use the letter of marque to target personal rivals, accusing them of piracy to have a justification for venettas.

Than they can dual with pistols in Washington to settle the dispute.:D


Ahh the good old days, when politicians could shoot eachother...

Use the pirates as shark bait. Let the second shot be the warning shot. Maybe their village could become a nuclear waste dump. Its about time there were a few more examples of this type of action against them.

Yeah, I feel like it'd be so easy to defend yourself from them. They're a couple of teenagers with assault rifles in a dingy!

http://img136.imageshack.us/i/wnus25mmmk38picxt4.jpg/

Put a few of those around the ship and you outta be set. I don't understand why the ships are always getting boarded, you'd think they'd learn. 'Bout time someone did.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ct1xEEGxQI8&feature=related


Ma duce is magic...and no one argues with ma duce!:D

Gotta love the attitude of the IMB - "don't fight back or you might piss them off".:eek:

I vote we take the IMB board members, stick them out there in a boat, and see how THEY like getting shot at and taken hostage!

Yeah, licensing privateers might not be such a hot idea, especially with what happened with Blackwater and some other private security firms over in Iraq.

I remember one story from back in '05. One private security detachment, ostensibly from an "engineering firm":rolleyes:, that was assigned to guard a convoy turned out to be real trigger happy. Any vehicle that came within rifle range, or anything along the side of the road they didn't like the looks of, they opened up on.

They continued along shooting up the countryside until they came to a checkpoint manned by US Marines. When the Marines tried to stop them, these dumb f#####s kept going and opened up on the Marines!

The Marines understandably took great offense at this, whistled up some support, and a few miles down the road got the convoy stopped. Whereupon they grabbed these idiot security guards, stripped them down to their BVD's, and put them face down in the dirt with the muzzle of an M-16 at the back of their necks.

From what I saw of Marines my 20 years in the Navy, I'd say those young gents showed incredible restraint in not at least beating the living crap out of those idiots. I'd imagine the thought of capping them then and there and increasing the intelligence level of the gene pool was at least a passing thought as well.

Those morons didn't realize how fortunate they were - to have opened fire on US Marines in a war zone and at the end of the day to still be drawing breath. And what did these prizewinners do once they were carted up and shipped back to the U.S.? They tried to file suit against the U.S. government for the "harrassment" they endured at the hands of the Marines.:eek:

I still do not know why there are single ships operating out there. I know if I were the owner of a ship operating there or the Captain of a ship in the area, I would demand that convoys be set up and that they be escorted by a destroyer or at least a frigate or two. That way the argument that "We cannot patrol everywhere" would go out the window.

I am also for the arming of Q-ships and using them as pirate bait. sink enough of the bastards with a 3 inch gun and they will think twice about their chosen profession...


All the same, I applaud the brave souls who stood up to these creeps!

WELL! I NEVER....
 

You insensitive people fail to realize that if these independently employed wealth redistribution workers had HEALTH CARE and collective bargaining this would not happen.

I'm sorry?

You are right... After all they are just doing what their culture tells them to do and who are WE WESTERNERS to tell them different...

:D:D

Hmmm, how about we send Joe Biden over to negotiate the details with them? Nancy could go along to lend congressional support.:D

GE minigun in 7.62 or 20mm would work nicely on these pukes....