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French detain 11 Somali pirates, ship freed
Wed Apr 15, 2009 3:00pm EDT
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By Sophie Hardach
PARIS (Reuters) - The French navy detained 11 Somali pirates on Wednesday who tried to seize a Liberian-flagged merchant ship, and other pirates released a Greek-owned vessel captured in March, officials said.
Heavily armed pirates from lawless Somalia have been increasingly striking the busy Indian Ocean shipping lanes and strategic Gulf of Aden, capturing dozens of vessels, hundreds of hostages and making off with millions of dollars in ransoms.
The French frigate Nivose captured the pirates' mothership, which was carrying two small assault boats, some 900 kilometers east of the Kenyan port of Mombasa on Tuesday, the French Defense Ministry said.
"The center of gravity for the pirates used to be the Gulf of Aden," said ministry spokesman Christophe Prazuck, adding that there had been a rise in attacks further away from Somalia.
The Nivose, deployed to prevent attacks in the gangs' widening hunting grounds off the coast of Somalia and neighboring Kenya, tracked the pirates after its helicopter thwarted an attack on the Liberian-flagged Safmarine Asia.
Supported by a surveillance plane, France's frigate is in the region as part of "Operation Atalanta," the European Union's anti-piracy mission that also involves German, Spanish, French and Italian forces.
In Athens, the Greek Merchant Marine Ministry said the Saint-Vincent-flagged cargo ship Titan and its 24 crew were freed by their Somali captors on Wednesday.
"We were informed today by the company that the ship and its crew have been freed," said a ministry official who declined to be named. "There were three Greeks among the crew."
The vessel was seized in March on its way from the Black Sea to Korea. Albamar Shipping, the firm based in the Greek port of Piraeus which manages the vessel, was not immediately available for comment.
The official said the ministry had no information whether a ransom had been paid.
HOSTAGE KILLED
There has been no let-up in the seizure of ships by pirates since U.S. snipers killed three Somali pirates on Sunday and freed an American ship captain who had been held hostage for five days.
Last week, French forces attacked pirates holding a yacht with five hostages in a rescue mission, during which one of the hostages was killed.
The pirates have vowed to take revenge on U.S. and French citizens after the military operations.
Egypt is in contact with Somali tribal leaders and local authorities to press for the release of two Egyptian ships captured this week, the Egyptian ambassador in Somalia said. Continued...
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