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India: Pirate 'mother ship' left in flames
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by Dave Keating | November 19, 2008 at 03:22 am
455 views | 19 Recommendations | 2 comments
India is reporting that one of its vessels has taken down a chief pirate ship off the coast of Africa. India says the battle took place late last night, and the ship is currenty on fire.
An Indian warship has exchanged fire with a pirate "mother vessel" off the hijacking-plagued Horn of Africa, leaving the ship ablaze in the Gulf of Aden, an official said Wednesday.
A file photo shows the Indian frigate Tabar, which was involved in the skirmish.
The skirmish took place Tuesday evening about 525 kilometers southwest of Oman's Salalah port when the frigate INS Tabar spotted a suspected pirate ship with two speedboats in tow, India's Defense Ministry reported.
"This vessel was similar in description to the 'Mother Vessel' mentioned in various piracy bulletins," the ministry said in a written statement.
The battle follows a recent surge in piracy off the Horn of Africa, including the weekend hijacking of a Saudi-owned supertanker by pirates based in largely lawless Somalia.
See where latest hijacking took place. »
Three other vessels have been captured since then in what a London-based maritime official called a "completely unprecedented" situation.
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Recommendations (19)
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Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (2)
at 03:51 on November 19th, 2008
Thats good news, what would have been the reaction of US forces if their ship would have been cought by the pirates.........complete elimination of somalia?
at 03:36 on November 20th, 2008
Why not elimination of Somalia? I am an Indian from US and I support strong actions of US. That's why you have a rather peaceful Kashmir. You probably don't know that.
In addition some one might argue that INS Tabar should have left the pirate boat alone. There is really no strong evidence that they were attacking INS Tabar except their words. It could have been a fishing boat. I also do not believe that Tabar crew really saw pirates roaming around on the deck with RPGs. Why the pirates will be doing that in view of a warship. It is possible that it is Indian Navy's machismo rather than self-defense. I hope Indian Navy makes those photos and videos available to prove that they were actually attacked.