WaPo : U.S. Military Raises Profile Against Piracy Off Somalia

U.S. Military Raises Profile Against Piracy Off Somalia

Associated Press | November 1, 2007

NAIROBI, Oct. 31 -- The U.S. military has stepped up activities in the pirate-infested waters off Somalia, going to the aid of hijacked cargo ships twice this week. American medics treated wounded North Korean sailors on one vessel, and the Navy was tracking another after destroying two pirate skiffs lashed alongside it.

Boats carrying pirates frequently cast off from Somalia's long, arrowhead-shaped shoreline, heading to busy shipping lanes to take over container ships and seize their cargo and crews. More than two dozen ships have been hijacked in Somali waters this year.

Somalia, on the eastern rim of the Horn of Africa, has had no functioning government since slipping into chaos in 1991 at the beginning of its long civil war.

The U.S. military acted on tips and distress calls to help two cargo ships hijacked since Sunday, including the North Korean vessel whose 22-member crew fought off the pirates in a bloody battle. At least one pirate was killed, and three North Koreans were wounded. U.S. sailors boarded the Dai Hong Dan on Tuesday, at its invitation, to treat the injured.

U.S. military officials said long-standing tradition on the high seas dictates help for any sailors in distress, regardless of their nationality or their vessel's home port.

"It really comes down to a fundamental issue: We're responsible mariners, and we help all sorts of people. . . . We've helped Iranian fishermen, given them water," said Cmdr. Lydia Robertson, a spokeswoman for the U.S. 5th Fleet in Bahrain. "When we get a distress call, we respond."

Meanwhile, shipping officials said a hijacked Japanese tanker, the Golden Nori, was carrying a load of highly flammable benzene when the guided missile destroyer USS Porter destroyed two pirate boats tied to it Sunday.

Somali pirates are trained fighters and are outfitted with sophisticated arms and equipment, including Global Positioning System instruments. They have seized merchant ships, aid vessels and a cruise ship.