Somalia/Pirates: On Ground Updates - May 05, 2009

Somalia/Pirates: On Ground Updates
Snapshot into the Somalia piracy reporting by the MSM
Tuesday, May 05, 2009
.About photo: A pirate ship, [this is what one would call the ‘MOTHER SHIP’,] 23 miles south of Aden port in Yemen, is being watched from a South Korean helicopter on Monday, May 4, 2009
Photo by the South Korean's Joint Chiefs of Staff
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* The Chosun llbo website brings us this report today and it starts of like this… South Korean naval forces have rescued a North Korean vessel from pirates off the coast of Somalia… The South Korean military says a destroyer in the Gulf of Aden dispatched a helicopter after the North Korean ship radioed for help early Monday. Officials say pirates who were approaching the North Korean ship retreated when the helicopter crew threatened to open fire. The military says the North Korean ship later radioed a "thank you" message…
Read the rest at link below…
S. Korea Rescues N. Korean Ship Near Somalia
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* The Southeast Missourian website reports it this way… South Korean snipers hovering in a helicopter Monday chased away pirates pursuing a North Korean freighter, a rare instance of cooperation between the two Koreas… The South Korean ship has been operating off Somalia since last month on a mission to protect its cargo ships from Somali pirates, whose acts of high-seas crime have exploded in recent years as the bandits continue to get ransoms in the millions of dollars… South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement that the 4,500-ton-class warship sent a Lynx helicopter to assist the North Korean vessel shortly after receiving a distress call that it was being chased by the pirate ship… The pirate vessel gave up chasing the North Korean vessel and sped away after snipers aboard the helicopter prepared to fire warning shots, the statement said… The incident took place 23 miles (37 kilometers) south of the Yemeni port of Aden, according to the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Somalia and Yemen are separated by the Gulf of Aden...
Read this report in full at link below…
South Korean warship saves North's vessel
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* VOANews.com has this report… Somalia's shaky new government is accusing neighboring Eritrea of arming insurgent groups in Somalia. The allegation is a repeat of events two years ago, when the United Nations accused Eritrea of secretly sending weapons to Somalia's militant al-Shabab group… Somali Security Minister Omar Hashi Aden says planes loaded with weapons from Eritrea arrived last week in Somalia…
Read the full report at link below…
Somalia Accuses Eritrea of Illegal Arms Shipments
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* The Washington Post had this report on their website Sunday, May 03, 20009… Now before we get to their report, I just got to say this… Here’s a report that I loved reading! Don’t you KNOW those pirates pooped their pants when they finally figured out they were about to attack a FRENCH NAVAL SHIP instead of a poor old helpless commercial ship. The expressions on all those pirate faces would have been Priceless! Hats off to the French Navy for a job well done.
With that said… read the report at link below…
France captures 11 suspected Somali pirates
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* SKY News has the following article with LOTS of dramatic Images/Video of heavily armed Somali pirates being captured by the French navy. Great stuff!!!
Click it out at link below…
Pirate Video: Sea Bandits Captured On Film
Lots of photos too

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Russian Warship Frees Iranians.

About this News Video: The Iranian embassy in Moscow has said that a Russian warship has freed eight Iranian citizens who had been seized last week along with Somali pirates.
Video posted on You Tube by RussiaToday
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AubreyJ………