Saturday, June 09, 2007
Saturday`s incident underscores growing U.S. military involvement in the Horn of Africa, not just against suspected al Qaeda targets but also against an increasingly violent pirate trade waters off Somalia`s coast.
According to U.S. military sources, the dock landing ship USS Carter Hall had been on patrol in international waters in the area when it encountered the MV Danica White cargo ship. Pirates were in control of the bridge and had taken the crew hostage.
The Carter Hall crew fired machine gun bursts, first as warning shots and then disabling shots.
"She fired several warning shots and fired disabling shots at three skiffs [small boats] in tow behind the White and pretty much destroyed the skiffs," Lt. Denise Garcia of the U.S. Navy`s Fifth Fleet told Reuters news service. Pirates used the skiffs to board the cargo ship, she said.
But the pirates were able to sail the ship into Somali waters where the U.S. warship would not follow them.
The U.S. Navy has warned commercial shipping of the increased piracy threat in recent days. On May 20, the Navy issued a maritime advisory notice, warning all cargo shipping to remain at least 200 miles off Somalia.
The shooting incident came one day after another U.S. Navy warship fired its five-inch guns at suspected al Qaeda members on the Somali coastline.
On Saturday, pirates who took over a Taiwanese fishing boat off Somalia killed one of its crew, Kenyan maritime officials reported, according to Reuters.
Source: Angola Press, June 09, 2007