Ship fights off attack; Pirates free food aid ship

NAIROBI, Kenya — Somali pirates attacked a Maltese flagged-ship before dawn Monday with rocket-propelled grenades but the ship escaped unharmed, NATO said. In a rare case of good news, pirates also released another ship when they learned it was picking up food aid for hungry Somalis.

Monday's attack on the MV Atlantica took place 30 miles (48 kilometers) off the coast of Yemen in the Gulf of Aden, said Lt.-Cmdr. Alexandre Santos Fernandes, a spokesman for the NATO alliance.

Two boats with about six pirates each attacked the ship. The ship took evasive maneuvers and escaped without damages or injury to its crew, Fernandes said.

Meanwhile, U.N. World Food Program spokesman Peter Smerdon said pirates released the Lebanese-owned MV Sea Horse on Friday. The Togo-flagged ship was hijacked April 14 with 19 crew as it headed to Mumbai, India, to pick up over 7,300 tons of WFP food destined for Somalia.

Somali clan elder Abdisalan Khalif Ahmed told The Associated Press from the Somali pirate haven of Harardhere that gunmen released the ship after they found out it was supposed to pick up food destined for Somalia.

Muhidin Abdulle Nur, a pirate in Harardhere who claimed to be part of the gang that captured the Sea Horse, said pirates also were paid "a reward" of $100,000 Sunday by two Somali businessmen for freeing the aid ship.

The WFP is feeding 3.5 million Somalis this year, about half the country's people. That requires shipping 43,000 tons of food every month, some 90 percent of that by sea. Flying in food aid is too expensive, and roads in the lawless country are plagued by bandits.

Somali pirates still hold at least 17 other ships and around 300 crew, and can earn $1 million or more in ransom from each kidnapped ship.

Also Monday, a group of European dredging firms appealed to the European Union to bolster navy patrols and protect vulnerable merchant vessels in the dangerous waters off the Horn of Africa. Pirates captured the Belgian-flagged dredger Pompei in the Indian Ocean, north of the Seychelles islands, on Saturday and turned the ship north toward Somalia.

Belgian officials said Monday they have been unable to contact the ship's 10-man crew or their captors.

Pirates have attacked more than 80 boats this year alone, according to the Kuala Lumpur-based International Maritime Bureau.

On Sunday, repeated warning shots from NATO helicopters and warships ended a dramatic pursuit of seven pirates who tried to hijack the Norwegian-flagged tanker MV Front Ardenn in the Gulf of Aden.