Pirates Free Taiwanese Ship's Crew

(AP)  Somali pirates released a Taiwanese fishing vessel on Monday, five and a half months after it was seized, a U.S. Navy official said.

The pirates left the Ching Fong Hwa 168 in skiffs that took them to shore, said Cmdr. Lydia Robertson of the U.S. Fifth Fleet in Bahrain. The ship had two Taiwanese and 12 Chinese crew members on board when it was hijacked 137 miles northeast of the Somali capital, Mogadishu in May. One of the crew members was killed the following month by the pirates, according to Andrew Mwangura, head of the Kenyan chapter of the Seafarers Assistance Program.

The International Maritime Bureau said it had heard reports of a shooting but had no official confirmation of the death.

Cmdr. Robertson said the ship had been escorted by a U.S. navy vessel out of Somali waters and that naval personnel were providing food and medical assistance. On Sunday, two other ships that had been hijacked in May by Somali pirates were freed after U.S. naval personnel spoke to them by radio.

"We encourage pirates to leave the ships," said Cmdr. Robertson. "We tell them, you get in the skiff, you leave, you do not take any hostages."

She offered no further details on the conversations, but confirmed that the Navy was in contact with the two remaining ships being held in Somali waters.

Monday's incident marks the fifth time in a week that the American Navy has intervened to help ships hijacked by Somali pirates. Last week, sailors boarded a North Korean ship to treat crew members who overpowered their hijackers, and a U.S. naval vessel fired on pirate skiffs tied to a Japanese-owned ship.

Somalia has not had a functioning government since 1991, when rival warlords overthrew dictator Mohamed Siad Barre and then turned on each other. The government of the chaotic Horn of Africa nation struggles to assert its authority beyond the capital and its lawless coastlines are a haven for heavily armed pirates, who use speedboats equipped with Global Positioning System equipment, anti-tank rocket launchers and various types of grenades.

[chinaiwei]

To Editor/Web Administrator:
Your description in the picture said "...Tanzanian-flagged fishing trawlers", isn''t it supposed to be Taiwanese flagged fishing trawlers?

Please verify. Thanks.

[kingreb09]

Please go to ********** and type in THE GAME by Jerry Webber and purchase the book entitiled THE GAME by Jerry Webber. You will not be disappointed and the proceeds will go to help a homeless. Thank you very much.

[terrorislam4]

THOMAS JEFFERSON KICKED FASCIST NAZI TERRORISLAMIST ARSES 200 YEARS AGO,,,

IT WAS THE CORRECT THING TO DO THEN,,, AND IT IS THE CORRECT THING TO DO NOW,,,

And again 100 years ago with Theodore Roosevelt
Tunisia in 1881 by France and Libya in 1911 by Italy. By then most of the Islamic world was under Christian domination. With the Ottoman Empire defeated in WW1, secularist Turkish rebels in 1923 overthrew the last Islamic Caliphate,

America and the Barbary Pirates: An International Battle Against an Unconventional Foe
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/jefferson_papers/mtjprece.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Barbary_War
What Thomas Jefferson learned from the Muslim book of jihad
http://www.usvetdsp.com/jan07/jeff_quran.htm
muslim justifies slavery and piracy%u2026
http://www.hawaiireporter.com/story.aspx?6bdec278-6a71-4436-bc4d-29d1c54b0ad7
MUSLIM PIRATES STRIKE AGAIN
http://astuteblogger.blogspot.com/2005/06/muslim-pirates-strike-again.html


But with regard to non-Muslims who are at war with the Muslims and do not have a peace treaty with the Muslims or are not living under Muslim rule, then Muslims are commanded to kill them, because Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):
%u201CFight those of the disbelievers who are close to you, and let them find harshness in you%u201D [al-Tawbah 9:123]
http://islamqa.com/index.php?ref=11406&ln=eng&txt=kill

[libsluvsuvs]

yes people it was the facist AMERICAN US NAVY that assisted in the release and NOT THE ''OH SO BENEVOLENT'' UN. But i am sure some anti-american liberal WOULD FIND some conspriacy to throw back as a token of appreciation.