SABAHIA
Saturday, October 13, 2012
Dutch sailors taking part in NATO's piracy operation Ocean Shield on Thursday (October 11th) detained seven suspected pirates off the coast of Somalia after an attack on a Spanish vessel, AFP reported.
The alleged pirates were intercepted by Dutch amphibian transport HMS Rotterdam after the Izurdia was ambushed by a small boat off the Horn of Africa, the Dutch defence ministry said in a statement.
"The suspected skiff was stopped after warning shots were fired and a helicopter-borne team boarded the boat," the Rotterdam's commander Huub Hulsker said.
EU Naval Force flagship ITS San Giusto also detained seven suspected pirates off the coast of the Yemeni island Socotra on Wednesday, according to a press release from the EU NAVFOR Somalia Taskforce.
"This was the first sighting of a suspect pirate vessel in the Somali Basin for over three months and EU Naval Force got to it before it had a chance of carrying out an attack on ships transiting the area," said EU NAVFOR Operation Commander Rear Admiral Duncan Potts. "My message to pirates is clear -- we are watching you and we plan to capture you if you put out to sea."
Statistics from the European Union Naval Force's anti-piracy operation Atalanta say that after a spike last year, successful pirate attacks on commercial vessels off the Horn of Africa have diminished.
Source: Sabahia