NAIROBI (AFP) — Pirates on Thursday seized a Ukrainian cargo ship off the coast of Somalia, a Kenyan maritime official said, amid reports that it was carrying tanks and spare parts for armoured vehicles.
The hijackers commandeered the Belize-flagged Faina, which was on its way to the Kenyan port of Mombasa, to a yet unknown location, said Andrew Mwngura who runs the Kenya chapter of the Seafarers Assistance Programme.
"It was sailing from the Baltics and was expected in Mombasa on September 27," he added. "As usual, the pirates were armed on a speedboat when they seized the ship, but we do not know where they have taken it."
Somali pirates often take ships to Eyl, a pirate den in the country's northern breakaway region of Puntland.
"The ship was transporting military hardware, including some 30 T-72 tanks and spare parts for armored vehicles," Russia's Interfax news agency said, quoting informed sources.
Ukraine's foreign ministry said: "Reports on the nature of this ship's cargo are being verified," adding that there were 21 people on board: 17 Ukrainians, three Russians and a Latvian.
"The captain reported that three cutter boats with armed people approached the Faina, and then communication was cut off," it said, quoting information provided by the ship's owners.
Dozens of ships, mainly merchant vessels, have been seized by gangs off Somalia's 3,700-kilometre (2,300-mile) coastline in recent years, despite the presence of Western navies deployed in the region to fight terrorism.
The pirates travel in speedboats and are armed with automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades. They sometimes hold ships for weeks until they are released for large ransoms paid by governments or owners.
In recent months, a multinational taskforce based in Djibouti has been patrolling parts of the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea, where a pirate mothership is believed to be operating.
Some pirates have justified their actions by claiming that, in the absence of a functional central authority in Somalia, they were battling illegal fishing and toxic waste dumping by foreign countries.
Last week, France circulated a draft resolution in the UN Security Council urging states to deploy naval vessels and military aircrafts to join in the fight against rampant piracy off Somalia.
The Security Council in June adopted a resolution empowering states to send warships into Somalia's territorial waters with the government's consent to combat piracy and armed robbery at sea.
French commandos recently freed sailing boat Carre d'As and its French crew and in June, they attacked pirates and freed the crew of a French-owned luxury cruise yacht, Le Ponant.
Somalia has been without an effective central authority since the 1991 ouster of former president Mohamed Siad Bare set off a deadly power struggle that has defied more than a dozen peace initiatives.
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