JERUSALEM (AP) — A European naval force detained six suspected pirates on Friday after they opened fire on an oil tanker traveling through the Gulf of Aden, officials said, likely part of a growing number of piracy attacks emanating from Somalia.
The attack on the Marshall Islands-flagged Chrystal Arctic comes as Yemen’s Houthi rebels have also been attacking ships traveling through the crucial waterway, the Red Sea and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait connecting them. The assaults have slowed commercial traffic through the key maritime route onward to the Suez Canal and the Mediterranean Sea.
The pirates shot at the tanker from a small ship “carrying weapons and ladders,” according to the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center, which oversees Mideast shipping routes. The pirates opened fire first at the Chrystal Arctic, whose armed, onboard security team returned fire at them, the UKMTO said.
7 shot dead in 2 locations in U.S. Illinois
House lawmakers reject renewal of key US intelligence program
IDB, Brazil’s Central Bank sign agreement to support green investments
Scientists struggle to protect infant corals from hungry fish
Coachella: Earthquake shakes SoCal desert during music fest
Watercare signals possible 25% increase in water rates
Waikato schoolchildren pitch into major kiwi relocation project
China Philippines South China Sea: Chinese coast guard blasts neighbour's vessels with water cannons
Yemen's Houthis claim launching missile attacks at U.S. commercial vessels, navy warships
VOX POPULI: Not everyone loves school lunch but it’s still vital for many
Chinese experts help farmers in Cote d'Ivoire achieve bumper harvest of paddy rice
Government warned against repealing Oranga Tamariki's Treaty commitments