Somali pirates in a shootout after a ship and 20 Indonesian hostages held nearly two months were freed, the military said on Tuesday.About 35 pirates left the MV Sinar Kudus in groups Sunday after they received a requested ransom, Rear Admiral Iskandar Sitompul said. A special joint military squad made sure no more pirates were still on the ship and then pursued the groups, catching up with and killing four pirates in an exchange of gunfire.
He refused to discuss the ransom, which media reported was between US$3 million and US$4.5 million (S$3.7 million to S$5.5 million).
The Sinar Kudus was seized in the Arabian Sea on March 16. Soon afterward, the pirates used the hijacked ship to attack another fat merchantman nearby, but private security repelled them, the EU Naval Force said.