EUROPEAN UNION helicopter gunships attacked a pirate base on the Somali coast yesterday, destroying five speedboats, in the first such airborne strike on land by the anti-piracy force.
The Somali-based pirates responded by threatening to kill crew being held on more than a dozen hijacked vessels if they were attacked again.
The EU Naval Force (EU Navfor) said it had carried out the overnight raid on pirate targets, near the port of Haradhere, a known pirate stronghold, using helicopters and surveillance aircraft. It was the first time EU Navfor had taken its fight against the pirates to Somali soil since its mandate was expanded earlier this year to allow strikes on land as well as sea.
The EU recently agreed to expand Operation Atalanta to allow forces to attack land targets as well as those at sea, and this is the first time its forces have used the new rules to attack a base on the mainland.
Anti-piracy forces have been reluctant to attack mainland bases, fearing for the crew of captured ships. At risk are more than 300 hostages of various nationalities held by the pirates, who have so far generally refrained from killing crew as they seek multi-million dollar ransoms.
A Somali pirate who identified himself as Abdi said a helicopter attacked the central Somali coastline near Hardhere.
“An unidentified helicopter destroyed five of our speedboats early in the morning. There were no casualties. We were setting off from the shore when the helicopter attacked us. We ran away without counter-attacking,” he said. “If we are attacked while with hostages, we shall take any necessary step to save ourselves. We may also kill the hostages if we miss other options to survive.”
EU Navfor said it had carried out the attack to destroy pirate equipment, four days after Somali gunmen hijacked a Greek-owned oil tanker carrying close to a million barrels of crude oil in the Arabian Sea. EU Navfor’s operation commander, Rear Admiral Duncan Potts, said the attack would “further increase the pressure on, and disrupt pirates’ efforts to get out to sea to attack merchant shipping and dhows”.
EU Navfor said no Somalis had been wounded in the attack and no EU forces had landed on Somali territory.
“We have monitored several locations for quite a long time and the time and place chosen was one of the best opportunities,” said Timo Lange, a media officer for EU Navfor. – (Agencies)