Somali

The deaths appear to be the first at the hands of Somali pirates in more than a decade.

Pirates have killed five crew members on board a Palau-flagged oil tanker off the coast of Somalia before security forces rescued the ship, according to Somali authorities.

The deaths on the tanker, the MT Honour 25, were announced on Tuesday.

They appear to be the first deaths at ⁠the hands of Somali pirates in more than a decade and come amid a resurgence of Somali piracy that experts have attributed in part to the effects of the United States and Israel’s war on Iran.

The MT Honour 25, which authorities said was carrying 18,500 barrels of oil, was seized by pirates off Somalia on April 21.

The Information Ministry of Puntland, a semiautonomous region of Somalia, said in a statement that a rescue mission had freed the ship and captured 16 suspected pirates.

“Before the operation began, the pirates on board the ship killed five of the crew,” the statement said. “Among those killed were three from Pakistan, one from Myanmar and one from India.”

Four other crew members, three Pakistanis and one Indian, were injured, it said.

In a post on social media, the Puntland Maritime Police Force said the vessel was “safe” and under the government’s control. It said efforts were continuing to find others involved in the hijacking.

The rescue follows another operation last week in which the maritime police freed the Sibu 1, a tanker sanctioned by the US that Somali pirates had hijacked in August.

But 28 of the 41 pirates arrested in that operation later escaped while being transferred to jail, and several Puntland security officials accused local police of complicity.

At least 15 attacks have been reported off Somalia since April, according to officials.

A previous wave of piracy, from 2008 to 2014, disrupted one of the world’s busiest shipping routes, cost the global economy billions of dollars and resulted in hundreds of millions of dollars in ransom payments.

RIYADH: The President of Somalia Hassan Sheikh Mohamud received the Secretary-General of the Muslim World League Sheikh Dr. Mohammed Al-Issa on Monday.

During the meeting at the presidential palace in Mogadishu, the two officials discussed various topics regarding MWL contributions to Somalia across religious, intellectual, and humanitarian spheres.

The president commended the efforts of the league in supporting the Somali people.

Earlier during his visit to the country, Al-Issa met with leading Somali scholars for an intellectual gathering and attended a forum where participants discussed efforts to confront extremist ideologies.

MOGADISHU: Somali pirates briefly hijacked a vessel off the coast of Yemen this week, the European Naval Force and security sources in Puntland said on Saturday.

Six armed men stormed the MT Glamour on Thursday when the ship, sailing under the flag of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, was about 38 nautical miles (70 kilometers) off the coast.

The Gulf of Aden and the Somali coast have seen a resurgence in piracy since April, with at least 15 attacks recorded this year — the highest since 2013, according to the International Maritime Organization.

Several security sources in the northeastern Puntland region — a major hub of Somali piracy — told AFP that six armed men boarded the Glamour after setting off from a small fishing village.

According to the European Naval Force, the crew stopped the vessel, shut down its systems and took refuge in the citadel as a precaution before the vessel was boarded.

After the hijacking, a Japanese warship approached the vessel and helicopters circled the ship, prompting the pirates to abandon it, the Puntland authorities said.

On Friday, Somali pirates released the cargo ship MV Sward, which was hijacked in April with 17 crew members on board.

Security sources and the authorities in Puntland said a ransom was paid.

Four tankers seized this year remain in the hands of pirates off the Somali coast — the Honour 25, the Eureka, the Asana and the Seamull, which is also known as Sibu 1.

The Seamull, which is part of Iran’s “ghost fleet” accused of exporting Iranian oil, is subject to US sanctions.