Pirate raid stuns Navy admiral

BEIRUT, Lebanon – In their most brazen raid yet, suspected Somali pirates operating deep in open waters have seized an oil tanker as long as an aircraft carrier, the U.S. military in the Middle East said Monday.

So audacious and unusual was the Arabian Sea attack that it caught the attention of America’s top military official, who expressed shock at the pirates’ ability to strike so far from shore.

“I’m stunned by the range of it,” said Navy Adm. Michael G. Mullen, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, commenting at a Pentagon news conference Monday. “Four-hundred fifty (nautical) miles away from the coast – that is the furthest, the longest distance I’ve seen for any of these incidents.”

The Liberian-flagged Sirius Star, one in a class of ships that stretch longer than three football fields and carry up to 2 million barrels of oil, is also the largest vessel to be attacked by pirates, said U.S. Navy Lt. Nathan Christensen of the U.S. Fifth Fleet.

The bold attack appeared to mark an escalation by Somali pirates in response to the recent international crackdown. The ship and its crew are still being held off the coast of the East African country as its owners negotiate with the pirates, who are seeking a multimillion-dollar ransom. Pirates typically attack within 200 miles of the shore and go after much smaller prey, Christensen said. These assailants, who are holding hostage a multinational crew of 25, appear to be “fundamentally changing the way they’re doing business” in the region.

The Sirius Star, built in South Korea and owned by Saudi Aramco, apparently had been heading south toward the Cape of Good Hope, around Africa’s southern tip, en route to North America, when it was raided Saturday.

On Monday, it appeared to be on its way toward Somalia. The pirates issued no immediate demands, Christensen said.