Pirates shoot dead four American hostages: U.S. military

Pirates shot dead four American hostages on a yacht they had seized in the Arabian Sea, and a firefight left two pirates dead and 13 captured, the U.S. military said on Tuesday.

The sequence of events was not immediately clear, but the U.S. military's Central Command said the dead hostages were only discovered after U.S. forces responded to gunfire and boarded the pirated yacht, known as the Quest.

"As they responded to the gunfire, reaching and boarding the Quest, the forces discovered all four hostages had been shot by their captors," the U.S. military's Central Command said in a statement.

"Despite immediate steps to provide life-saving care, all four hostages ultimately died of their wounds."

The military, which said the incident took place at about 1 a.m. EST, had been monitoring the Quest since discovering it had been taken over by pirates for about three days. It said negotiations to secure the release of the Americans had been under way when the gunfire broke out.

The U.S. Embassy in Nairobi on Saturday said a yacht with four Americans on board was hijacked in the Arabian Sea, and was heading toward Somalia.

Two Somali pirates spoke with Reuters by telephone on Tuesday.

"Our colleagues called us this morning, that they were being attacked by a U.S. warship," a pirate who identified himself as Mohamud told Reuters.

"The U.S. warship shot in the head two of my comrades who were on the deck of the yacht by the time they alerted us," Mohamud said. "This is the time we ordered the other comrades inside yacht to react -- kill the four Americans because there was no other alternative -- then our line got cut."

"The killing of those four Americans and our comrades is a fair game that has started. Everybody will react if his life is in danger. We should not agree to be killed and let the hostages be freed," a pirate called Hussein told Reuters from Hobyo, another Somali coastal pirate haven.

Neither could say how many of their colleagues were killed.

Pirate gangs preying on shipping lanes through the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean typically target large merchant ships, with oil tankers and the prize catch, but the snatching of foreigners can also yield high ransoms.

source

Damn those Somali pirates! It's crazy how to this day we still have pirates infiltrating the seas by 'ship jacking' and holding hostages for supplies and goods. It's an act of rebellion as well as the need to protect their country. It's been a major problem since the collapse of the Somali government back in '91. Reasons for these pirate attacks are because the Somali's feel they need to protect their waters from illegal international fishing and waste dumping. 70% of the Somali locals approve of piracy as the best form of national defense according to a poll taken back in 2009.

Somalia's been known to be one of the poorest countries with an unstable government as well as hostile. It's been said that piracy issues can cost the international community up to $30 million dollars. They need to somehow establish some kind of formal government as it's becoming a priority in regards to international issues.

this sounds like a case of americans going to a place know that knew for pirates but go there anyways which is pretty stupid in highsighy dont you think :p

Well as far as military carriers, they are always cruising different waters. Somali pirates can roll up anywhere that's remotely within those vicinities and attempt to attack anyone they see in the water.