Monday, December 17, 2007
By Nicolo Gnecchi
Andrew Mwangura, director of Mombasa-based East African Seafarers Assistance Programme, said the large MV Jolly T was attacked by gunmen believed to be pirates off the
It was unclear if the ship had been captured or escaped.
"These must be Somali pirates. We don't know how many crew are on board," Mwangura told Reuters, saying the sketchy information came from shipping sources in the region.
"At the moment, we are trying to find out if it is being held captive anywhere, so that we can monitor its position."
Since
A brief lull during last year's six-month Islamist rule of south
The pirates generally use speedboats for early morning attacks, and sometimes justify their actions as defending Somali waters against illegal fishing vessels and toxic dumping.
Mwangura said some of the cargo on the Italian ship was headed for an "important diplomatic mission" in
"But we don't know which one and whether this was known by the attackers," he said. "The report of the attack only reached us this morning.
Last week, pirates left a Japanese chemical tanker they had been holding since October after U.S. Navy ships cornered them off north