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2009-10-08 11:38:42
Wed Oct 7, 11:10 am ET
NAIROBI (AFP) Somali pirates attempted to storm the French navy's 18,000
tonne flagship in the Indian Ocean after mistaking it for a cargo vessel, the
French military said on Wednesday.
The crew of La Somme, a 160-metre (525-foot) command vessel and fuel tanker,
easily saw off the brazen night-time assault by lightly armed fighters on two
lightweight skiffs and captured five pirates, a spokesman said.
"The pirates, who because of the darkness took the French ship for a commercial
vessel, were on board two vessels and opened fire with Kalashnikovs," Admiral
Christophe Prazuck said in Paris.
La Somme is the French command vessel in the Indian Ocean, overseeing French
air, sea and land forces fighting Somali pirates and hunting terrorists under
the banner of the US-led Operation Enduring Freedom.
Officers on the ship have directed commando operations to free French hostages
in the hands of Somali pirates.
The pirates tried to flee when they realised their mistake but were pursued by
French forces who, after an hour-long chase, caught one of the skiffs, Prazuck
said.
On it they found five men but no weapons, water or food as the pirates had
apparently thrown all of the boat's contents overboard, the spokesman said.
A Western official at sea in the area, speaking to AFP on condition of
anonymity, said that there had been an exchange of fire between the warship and
the pirate launches.
"One of the skiffs managed to get away in the night because La Somme was busy
with the first pirate boat," he said.
"Despite the arrival of other vessels, they haven't yet managed to find the
second boat," he said, adding that many warships in the area were busy hunting
another group which attacked a cargo ship off the Seychelles on Sunday.
The world's naval powers have deployed dozens of warships to the lawless waters
off Somalia over the past year to curb attacks by pirates in one of the world's
busiest maritime trade routes.
La Somme was operating 250 nautical miles (460 kilometres) off the Somali
coast, on its way to resupply fuel to frigates patrolling shipping lanes as
part of the European Union's Operation Atalanta anti-piracy mission.
This was not the first time that Somali pirates have mistakenly attacked a
French naval vessel. Several pirates were captured in May when they attempted
to board a frigate in the area.
Somalia has had no proper government since it plunged into lawlessness after
President Mohamed Siad Barre was overthrown in 1991.
The country is riven by factional fighting and pirate gangs operate freely from
several ports along its Indian Ocean and Gulf of Aden coasts.
According to the environmental watchdog Ecoterra International, at least 163
attacks have been carried out by Somali pirates since the start of 2009 alone,
47 of them successful hijackings.
Last year, more than 130 merchant ships were attacked, an increase of more than
200 percent on 2007, according to the International Maritime Bureau's Piracy
Reporting Centre in Kuala Lumpur.
Pirates have in recent weeks resumed attacks with the end of the monsoon
season. Last week Somali gunmen captured Spanish fishing boat The Alakrana with
36 crew members in the Indian Ocean.
The US Maritime Administration warned last month that the end of the monsoon
season was likely to bring an increase in piracy off Somalia and urged shipping
companies to be vigilant.
Calmer waters allow pirates, who often operate in small fibreglass skiffs towed
out to sea by captured fishing vessels, to hijack freighters, trawlers and
private yachts. Cruise vessels have also been attacked.