U.S. ramping up anti-piracy efforts

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Navy is adopting more aggressive tactics to counter piracy off the coast of Somalia, helping last week to make the area free of captured vessels for the first time since February, according to a senior U.S. Navy commander in the region.

The pirates, Somali clansmen and trained fighters armed with AK-47 assault rifles, operate in small skiffs as far as 200 miles offshore, according to the U.S. military. They have hijacked and held as many as six merchant ships for ransoms of millions of dollars since February, the military said.

In the past, the pirates counted on being able to flee into territorial waters, but in recent months U.S. naval ships have gained permission to pursue them and cut off their access to fresh supplies.

Two U.S. ships at a time, each with about 300 sailors, were involved in the operations, part of a broader maritime security mission around the Horn of Africa, said Vice Adm. Kevin Cosgriff, commander of U.S. Naval Forces Central Command and the U.S. 5th Fleet.

In addition, the Navy has destroyed the pirate ships “as a repressive measure,” Cosgriff said. “They were disabled” with gunfire, “cut adrift, and sunk as hazards to navigation.”

Typically, the pirates approach the merchant ships, which are usually unarmed, and threaten the crew, demanding ransom and pilfering the ship before they leave.