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US destroyer watching hijacked ship off Somalia
Long but everything you need to know about the situation with the Ukrainian ship Faina.
MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) -- A U.S. destroyer off the coast of Somalia closed in Saturday on a hijacked Ukrainian ship loaded with tanks and ammunition, watching it to ensure the pirates who seized it do not try to remove any cargo or crew.

As Russian and American ships pursued the hijackers of the Ukrainian vessel, pirates seized another ship off Somalia's coast, an international anti-piracy group said. The Greek tanker with a crew of 19 is carrying refined petroleum from Europe to the Middle East. It was ambushed Friday in the Gulf of Aden, said Noel Choong, who heads the International Maritime Bureau's piracy reporting center based in Malaysia. He said pirates chased and fired at the ship before boarding it.

In Somalia, a man claiming to be spokesman of the pirates holding the Ukrainian ship said the hijackers want $35 million to release the vessel. But there was no way to immediately verify his claim that he represented the pirates.
Posted by: Steve White 2008-09-27
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=251197