From: Biniam Haile \(SWE\) (eritrea.lave@comhem.se)
Date: Fri Apr 10 2009 - 15:37:38 EDT
Pirates vow to fight back US attack
Fri, 10 Apr 2009 10:27:29 GMT
Pirates in Somalia have threatened to fight back any attacks by American
naval forces after they captured a US captain earlier this week.
"We are not afraid of the Americans. We will defend ourselves if
attacked," one of the pirates told Reuters on Friday.
The US sent a naval destroyer, the USS Bainbridge, to the area to
increase pressure on the pirates to give up captain Richard Phillips
held hostage in a lifeboat on Wednesday.
Four gunmen have been holding Phillips since Wednesday after a foiled
bid to hijack the 17,000-tonne Maersk Alabama several hundred miles off
Somalia.
The ship's lifeboat with which the pirates were escaping has run out of
fuel and other pirates are too nervous to help them due to the presence
of foreign naval ships.
"Other pirates want to come and help their friends, but that would be
like sentencing themselves to death," said Andrew Mwangura, coordinator
of the East African Seafarers' Assistance Program.
According to US military officials, more forces were on the way and that
all options were on the table to save the captain.
AGB/DT
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=91021
<http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=91021§ionid=351020501>
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