A group of Somali pirates ran afoul of the frigate HMS Cumberland:
Pirates caught redhanded by one of Her Majesty’s warships after trying to hijack a cargo ship off Somalia made the grave mistake of opening fire on two Royal Navy assault craft packed with commandos armed with machineguns and SA80 rifles.HMS Cumberland is one of the warships recently deployed by NATO to alleviate piracy off Somalia. The day before yesterday, an Indian Navy warship chased another group of pirates into Somali territorial waters. Nevertheless, successful attacks continue, and Somali pirates continue to hold over 100 hostages for ransom.In the ensuing gunfight, two Somali pirates in a Yemeni-registered fishing dhow were killed, and a third pirate, believed to be a Yemeni, suffered injuries and subsequently died. It was the first time the Royal Navy had been engaged in a fatal shoot-out on the high seas in living memory.
By the time the Royal Marines boarded the pirates’ vessel, the enemy had lost the will to fight and surrendered quietly. The Royal Navy described the boarding as “compliant”.
David Axe points out that the fall of the Somali port of Merka to Islamic insurgents may have a positive impact on the piracy problem; before the United States and its Ethiopian proxy decided to overthrow it, the Islamic Courts Union kept piracy at a manageable level. This time I have my doubts, however. The US has demonstrated that good Somali behavior on piracy will not be rewarded, and the Islamic insurgents will likely require the funds that pirates can provide. Moreover, insurgents, pirates, and terrorists exist in the same legal-financial nether world, meaning that pirate ransoms may well find their way into terrorist pockets.
--Robert Farley
