Thursday, April 16, 2009
Pirates fired grenades and automatic weapons at the cargo ship Liberty Sun, but its American crew successfully blockaded themselves inside the engine room. The ship was damaged in Tuesday's attack but escaped and was heading to Kenya under U.S. Navy guard.
A pirate whose gang attacked the ship said that his group was targeting American ships and sailors.
"We will seek out the Americans and if we capture them we will slaughter them," said a 25-year-old pirate based in the Somali port of Harardhere who gave only his first name, Ismail. He did not take part in the attack on the Liberty Sun.
The move comes after U.S. Navy sharpshooters killed three pirates Sunday to win the release of a hijacked American sea captain, Richard Phillips of the Maersk Alabama.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said the United States will pursue new efforts to track down and freeze the assets of pirates, who have reaped multimillion-dollar ransoms for ships they have captured.
French forces launched an early morning attack on a pirate ship after spotting it Tuesday with a surveillance helicopter and observing the pirates overnight. The raid thwarted the bandits' planned attack on the Liberian cargo ship Safmarine Asia, the French Defence Ministry said.
Despite Obama's vow to take action against the rise in banditry, brigands have seized four vessels and more than 75 hostages since Sunday's dramatic rescue of Phillips.
Source: Associated Press, April 16, 2009