Somali pirates seize US owned boat with 10 Italians aboard

In the latest hijacking, pirates captured a U.S.-owned and Italian-flagged tugboat with 16 crew including 10 Italians today in the busy Gulf of Aden.

The tugboat was hijacked in the Gulf of Aden off Somalia's northern coast as it was pulling barges.

After the French incident on Friday, Somali pirates may not attack French vessels for a while.

(click on map to enlarge)

With US inaction and a president bent on apologizing to the world, our ships seem to be a safer target for the pirates.

The Foreign Ministry in Rome confirmed 10 of the 16 crew members are Italian. Italian government officials and the company that owned the vessel were involved in trying to secure their release.

French forces ended their pirate crisis on Friday when they freed four hostages after pirates seized the yacht Tanit off the Somalia coast. One of the hostages was killed.



Photos above show the French yacht Tanit, with armed pirates aboard. A French hostage was killed and four others were freed on Friday when French forces attacked pirates who had seized the yacht off Somalia.

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