Another Pirate Attack Foiled Off Somalia Coast
There was another attempted pirate attack off of the coast of Somalia, CBS News producer Jeff Goldman reports.
The attempted attack targeted the MS Evita, a commercial vessel, about 500 kilometers northwest of the Seychelle islands, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said Friday.
The pirates fired rifles and aimed rocket propelled grenades at the MS Evita but the commercial ship evaded the attack.
The USS Farragut intercepted the suspected pirates in the Somali basin Thursday. Eleven pirates were taken in to custody but then released on two small skiffs.
Their mother ship was destroyed and sunk. (Picture below)
Whitman said that in the case of the MS Evita commercial ship incident, the authorities "did not believe they had sufficient evidence to continue to detain these individuals."
Yesterday, the USS Nicholas, a guided missile frigate, was tracking Somali pirates when they opened fire in Indian Ocean waters. The Nicholas, which saw combat in the first Gulf War, returned fire and disabled the skiff.
Five pirates are in custody still from that incident. Their situation is still being evaluated based on the evidence, Whitman said.
According to Whitman, each piracy case has to be looked at individually for legal disposition. In the past, Kenya has offered assistance in this matter.