Somali pirates launch failed attack on second US vessel

The ship escaped an assault that may have been rooted in revenge for three pirates' deaths during the US Navy's rescue Sunday of the Maersk Alabama's captain.

By David Montero

posted April 15, 2009 at 8:20 am EST

• A daily summary of global reports on security issues.

Pirates in Somalia tried unsuccessfully Wednesday to hijack another American vessel, following vows to increase attacks on American interests. The incident, which comes days after Somalian militants fired on a visiting US congressman, highlights the challenge that an increasingly unstable Somalia poses for the Obama administration.

Wednesday's attack took place in the early morning hours off the Gulf of Aden, The Guardian reports.

Pirates fired rocket-propelled grenades and automatic weapons at an American ship carrying humanitarian aid off the coast of Somalia in the fifth attack on a commercial vessel since the US Navy's rescue of a captured freighter captain.

The MV Liberty Sun was today heading to Kenya with a US Navy escort after the pirates' unsuccessful attempt to seize the cargo vessel and its 20-strong American crew, none of whom were reported injured.

The ship managed to out-maneuver the pirates before being assisted by the USS Bainbridge, "the navy destroyer involved in the rescue last week of another American cargo ship," reports The New York Times.

The ship sent out a distress call around 6:30 p.m., a Navy spokesman said. By the time the U.S.S. Bainbridge arrived — about five hours later — the pirates had fled.

The Bainbridge ... placed a small security team aboard the Liberty Sun, according to Lieut. Nathan Christensen, a public affairs officer with the U.S. Fifth Fleet in Bahrain. He said the Bainbridge was escorting the Liberty Sun toward Mombasa on Wednesday.

Snipers aboard the Bainbridge killed three Somali pirates on Sunday in the dramatic rescue of Richard Phillips, the captain of the Maersk Alabama. During a botched hijacking of the Alabama last week, the pirates seized Captain Phillips and held him at sea in a lifeboat for four days. But Captain Phillips was freed when the American snipers picked off the pirates in the lifeboat — at dusk, using night-vision scopes.

Following the rescue of Mr. Phillips, Somalian pirates vowed to take revenge, according to Al Jazeera.

A Somali pirate chief has vowed to target Americans in revenge for the death of three pirates killed during a US raid to free an American hostage held by the pirates.

"But I tell you that this matter will lead to retaliation and we will hunt down particularly American citizens travelling our waters," [said pirate Abdi Garad].

A series of what are probably retaliatory strikes against American targets has followed, of which today's failed hijacking is the latest. Following the rescue of Phillips, Somali pirates captured four ships and took more than 60 crew members hostage in a brazen hijacking spree, reports the Associated Press.

Also, on Monday, militants in Mogadishu fired on a plane carrying US Rep. Donald Payne (D) of New Jersey. They failed to down the plane, and Mr. Payne escaped unharmed. But the attack was a sharp reminder that "although the recent focus on Somalia has been on piracy, the bigger threat comes from terrorists operating onshore," a former FBI supervisor with experience in Somalia writes in The Wall Street Journal.

"On land, radical jihadists now have one of the largest territories from which to operate since the Taliban hosted al Qaeda in Afghanistan.

The terrorist group that fired on Mr. Payne is al Shabab ("the Youths"), a one-time military wing of the Islamist Courts Union that ruled Somalia for six months before Ethiopia invaded and deposed them in December 2006. Designated as a terrorist organization by the State Department, al Shabab's aim is to create a Taliban-style Islamic state in Somalia. In pursuit of this goal it uses the most ruthless of methods: executions, beatings, torture and suicide bombing.

The Christian Science Monitor reported earlier this week that, as calls mount to address the piracy issue, efforts involving force might only push the pirates and Islamist militants closer together.

The pirates ... are likely to increase their use of violence, and that could lead them into the arms of Somalia's small but powerful Islamist militias for protection and support.

As the crew of the Maersk Alabama celebrated the return of Capt. Richard Phillips Sunday, Somalia's radical Islamists praised the dead or captured pirates as mujahideen, or "holy warriors." Meanwhile, self-described pirates told reporters by cellphone that they would be more violent with hostages next time.