An American ship captain was freed unharmed Sunday in a U.S. Navy operation that killed three of the four Somali pirates who had been holding him for days in a lifeboat off the coast of Africa, a senior U.S. intelligence official said.
One of the pirates was wounded and in custody after a swift firefight, the official said.
Capt. Richard Phillips (pictured), 53, of Underhill, Vermont, was safely transported to a Navy warship nearby.
Earlier negotiations had broken down because of the U.S. insistence that the pirates be arrested and brought to justice.
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