NATO warship thwarts attack by pirates off Somalia, releases the offenders

October 4th, 2009 Spain: hijacked fishing boat makes port in SomaliaMADRID — A hijacked trawler has been taken to port in Somalia with pirates still in charge of the vessel, the Spanish government said Sunday. The Spanish-owned fishing boat Alakrana was hijacked by pirates early Friday.

July 16th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Mounting pressure from Indian and French navies forced Somali pirates to release an Indian dhow hijacked in the Gulf of Aden. Seeing the movement of the Indian and French warships and anticipating a combined operation, the pirates forced the dhow to close the Somali coast and released the dhow at on July 15, escaping in their skiffs, after robbing the crew of all their cash and valuables.

July 8th, 2009 Somali pirates board Turkish ship in Gulf of AdenNAIROBI, Kenya — Somali pirates seized a Turkish ship with 23 crew on Wednesday and are being shadowed by a Turkish warship in the Gulf of Aden, a shipping official and NATO spokesman said. The pirates first surrounded the Horizon-1 in speed boats and then boarded the ship, which is carrying sulfate from Saudi Arabia to Jordan, according to Omer Ozgur of Istanbul-based Horizon Shipping.

June 8th, 2009 BRUSSELS - NATO is to launch a new, long-term warship fleet dedicated to fighting piracy off Somalia, a senior US diplomat said Monday. "We expect a significant effort for a sustained period," starting as early as July 1, the diplomat said ahead of the Thursday meeting of NATO defence ministers here.

May 29th, 2009 Indian navy says it foiled Somali pirate attackNEW DELHI — The Indian navy said Friday it thwarted a pirate attack on a merchant ship in the Gulf of Aden off the coast of Somalia. An Indian warship patrolling the seas near the lawless African country responded to a distress call Thursday from the Liberian-registered merchant vessel MV Maud, which said eight armed people on a skiff were approaching it at high speed, the navy said.

May 29th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Indian Navy's warship INS Talwar has thwarted a piracy attempt against a merchant vessel carrying Indian crew in the Gulf of Aden and nabbed six pirates, a naval official said here Friday. INS Talwar Thursday afternoon received a distress call from a Liberian flag vessel MV Maud that eight pirates were approaching the ship in a skiff.

May 2nd, 2009 NATO thwarts hijack off Somalia, seizes dynamiteNAIROBI, Kenya — Special forces on a Portuguese warship seized explosives from suspected Somali pirates after thwarting an attack on an oil tanker, but later freed the 19 men. Hours later and hundreds of miles away, another band of pirates hijacked a cargo ship, a NATO spokesman said Saturday.

May 2nd, 2009 NAIROBI - Somali pirates have hijacked a Malta-flagged ship with 28 Ukrainian crew on board in the Indian Ocean, a maritime official said Saturday. The Malta-flagged MV Ariana was seized late Friday, Andrew Mwangura, East Africa Coordinator of Seafarers Assistance Programme, said.

April 29th, 2009 Report: Russian ship seizes 29 suspected piratesMOSCOW — Russian news agencies, citing the nation's Defense Ministry, say a Russian warship has seized a vessel with 29 suspected pirates on board off the coast of Somalia. RIA Novosti and other agencies say a Russian anti-submarine vessel seized the ship on Tuesday along with automatic rifles, pistols and ammunition found on board.

April 28th, 2009 MADRID - An Indian warship along with a French warship and a Spanish frigate intercepted and arrested nine alleged pirates suspected of attacking the Italian cruise ship MS Melody, media reports said. The operation took place Sunday north of the Seychelles when the alleged pirates were detected near the position where the attack on the MS Melody took place late Saturday.

April 28th, 2009 MOSCOW - The crew of a Russian tanker has successfully repelled an attack by pirates off the Somali coast, the Russian maritime journal Sovfrakht reported Tuesday. The NS Commander tanker, partly owned by Russia's Novoship company and sailing under the Liberian flag, was attacked Monday by three pirate boats about 120 miles east of the Yemeni island of Sokotra.

April 18th, 2009 MOGADISHU - NATO forces Saturday freed 20 people taken hostage by Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden last week, a media report said. A Dutch warship in a NATO anti-piracy mission freed 20 Yemeni hostages from a vessel that was captured by the pirates last week, the report quoted a NATO spokesperson as saying.

January 4th, 2009 PARIS - A French warship Sunday foiled attacks by Somali pirates on two commercial vessels in the Gulf of Aden, the French president's office said. Patrolling off the Somali coast, the French warship 'Jean de Vienne' captured 19 Somali pirates when they tried to seize a Croatian freighter and a Panamanian cargo ship.

January 1st, 2009 ATHENS - A European Union (EU) naval mission has thwarted an attempt by pirates to hijack a Greek tanker off the Somalian coast, the Greek merchant marine ministry said Friday. The Kriti Episkopi tanker was sailing under the Greek flag in the Gulf of Aden near the coast of Somalia when the pirates tried to seize the vessel at around 9.50 a.m.

December 24th, 2008 KUALA LUMPUR - A German warship and helicopter Thursday succeeded in foiling an attempt by pirates to board an Egyptian bulk carrier travelling in the troubled Gulf of Aden off Somalia's coast. The ship, which had 31 crew aboard, was headed for an Asian port from the Egyptian port of Suez when pirates approached the vessel and started firing at crew members, said Noel Choong, head of the anti-piracy International Maritime Bureau (IMB) reporting centre in Kuala Lumpur.