After years of battling the scourge of pirates attacking both commercial and pleasure boats off the coast of Somalia, U.S. and European forces are ramping up the offensive on the maritime criminals.
The European Union Naval Force Somalia, or EU NAVFOR, issued a press release on Saturday stating that it conducted an operation to destroy pirate equipment on the Somali coastline. Initial reports indicate that no Somalis were injured ashore during the operation. Unofficial reports indicate that the operation left at least five of the pirates’ fast attack craft inoperable.
Meanwhile, the NATO issued a media release on Monday stating that one of its warships intercepted a suspected pirate mothership in the Arabian Sea.
After boarding the dhow, it was determined that there were 14 suspected pirates and seven Yemeni hostages (originally crewmembers) on board. The pirate weapons were disposed of and the dhow was returned to the control of the Yemeni crew.
