Uganda attacks signal terror group potential

If the Somali terror group al-Shabab is responsible for the deadly attacks in Uganda, it could mean the group is capable of carrying out successful attacks in Africa and beyond, according to an intelligence assessment by the FBI and the Homeland Security Department. Al-Shabab claimed responsibility for the explosions that killed 76 people watching the World Cup final in Uganda on Sunday. Intelligence officials have long warned that sporting events and large gatherings are attractive targets for terrorists.

President Barack Obama, in an interview with South Africa Broadcasting Corp., said the statements indicate that al-Shabab and other terrorist organizations see Africa "as a potential place where you can carry out ideological battles that kill innocents without regard to long-term consequences for their short-term tactical gains." The attack would be al-Shabab's first successful strike outside of Somalia, according to the July 12 intelligence analysis obtained by The Associated Press. The document is marked for official use only and was distributed to law enforcement officials across the country.

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Hijacked Tanker Freed in 22-Minute Gunfight

Russian marines on Thursday freed a Russian oil tanker hijacked by Somali pirates a day earlier in the Arabian Sea in a 22-minute gunfight that saw one pirate killed and 10 others arrested. The 23 Russian sailors on the Moscow University tanker — who cut power to the vessel and spent the 20-hour ordeal holed up in the engine room — emerged unharmed, a Navy spokeswoman told The Moscow Times. President Dmitry Medvedev praised the marines for their quick and professional work and ordered that they be decorated with state medals. He promised that the captured pirates would be punished “under the full force of naval law,” Interfax reported.

Russian officials have not decided whether to bring the detained pirates to Moscow or hand them over for trial to an African court. The state-owned tanker was attacked about 350 nautical miles from Socotra, Yemen, in what was the first hijacking of a Russian-owned ship with a Russian crew in the pirate-infested waters off the coast of lawless Somalia. Communication with the ship ceased at 8 a.m. Wednesday Moscow time, when the captain radioed that two boats carrying gunmen had approached the ship and opened fire. The pirates had warned against any rescue attempt, saying they were holding the crew members hostage and taking the tanker to the Somali coast.

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Somali pirates, security personnel in 4 shootouts

Signaling a new offensive mindset, international military officials vowed Friday to fight the pirates as swarms of Somalis moved into the waters off East Africa. Four shootouts with pirates showed that high-seas attacks are intensifying with the end of the monsoon season. Nearly half the 47 ships hijacked off Somalia last year were taken in March and April — the most dangerous months of the year for ships in the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean. In the most serious skirmish Friday, six pirates attacked a vessel before breaking off and chasing the French fishing boat Torre Giulia, said Cmdr. John Harbour, spokesman for the EU Naval Force.

A French military detachment onboard a nearby ship fired warning shots at the pirates. The ship then approached the skiff and collided with it, sinking the skiff and throwing the pirates into the water. Four were rescued, but two others were missing, Harbour said. A spike in attacks is likely in the coming weeks, said Harbour. This season, though, ship owners and sailors are more prepared to evade pirates, fight back, or they have armed security onboard, raising the likelihood of violence. "We know the monsoon is over. We know they're coming. We're taking the fight to the pirates."

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Rival Somali pirates have shootout over oil tanker release

A shootout between rival Somali pirate gangs over their biggest ransom ever threatened to turn an oil supertanker and the 28 hostages aboard into a massive fireball until bandits begged the international anti-piracy force for help, a negotiator said Monday. A group of pirates showed up in two speedboats just before a $5.5 million ransom was to be dropped by parachute onto the Maran Centaurus, according to a Somali businessman responsible for the negotiations who spoke on condition of anonymity because he feared reprisals.

The crude oil onboard, estimated to be worth some $150 million at the time it was hijacked, is so flammable that smoking is forbidden on deck. Two helicopters chased away the attackers seeking a cut of the ransom after the pirates onboard called frantically for help. "It's really remarkable: You have the criminals calling on the police to come and help them," said pirate expert Roger Middleton from London-based think tank Chatham House, who said it was the first time he could recall such a situation.

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Somali pirates hijack three ships

Somali pirates have captured a freighter, a bulk carrier and a chemical tanker - despite a large foreign warship presence in the Gulf of Aden. Ending 2009 with a flurry of hijackings in one of the most profitable years to date, the Somali sea bandits' latest catch on Tuesday was the St James Park - a UK-flagged chemical tanker with a crew of 26 from nine different countries.

Andrew Mwangura, from the East Africa Seafarers Assistance Programme, said the tanker was seized en route from Spain to Thailand but had been commandeered near the northern Somali coast. He said the vessel's last safe port of call was Jeddah in Saudi Arabia and that the crew included seamen from Russia, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Romania, Philippines, Poland, Georgia, India and Turkey.

Speaking to Al Jazeera, Simon Jones from Trinton International, a maritime risk and security assessment company, said: "The problem is the area of sea they are trying to protect is so vast ... that [searching for] a few pirates sprinkled around the area ... is like trying to find a needle in a haystack.

"The only realistic way that piracy can be stopped at sea ... is for those vessels to be pratically prepared to prevent piracy occurring, preventing them getting on board and preventing them from getting close to the vessel ... the navies cannot be there all the time."

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Missing-Somali Case Gives Recruitment Clues To FBI

When federal authorities unsealed terrorism-related charges Monday against eight Minnesota men, they provided the first detailed account of how some two dozen young Somali-Americans were persuaded to leave the U.S. and join an Islamist insurgency in Somalia. While the recruitment methods are textbook and familiar — such as questioning the men's Muslim faith and dedication to Somalia — the effectiveness, and breadth, of the campaign has surprised intelligence officials.

"This is a unique case in the United States," the special agent in charge of the FBI's Minneapolis office, Ralph Boelter, told NPR. "Folks in the United States traveled to a foreign country to attend a terrorist camp, run by al-Shabaab in this case. Some actually engaged in hostilities on behalf of al-Shabaab. We haven't seen anything quite like this before."

If the allegations are true, the FBI in Minneapolis has been investigating one of the largest alleged terrorist networks in the United States since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. The numbers tell the story — some two dozen young men were recruited and at least 14 allegedly helped funnel the young men to the front lines in Somalia. The FBI is also investigating disappearances of young Somalis in San Diego, Boston and Ohio.

According to the charging documents, the recruitment effort in Minneapolis began back in 2007, a short time after Ethiopian troops had invaded Somalia. A cooperating witness allegedly told the FBI that he and other men met at various locations around the Twin Cities to talk politics. The conversation invariably turned to the Ethiopian invasion. The young men wanted to know what they could do to help.

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Somali Pirates Attack Maersk Alabama Again

As piracy intensifies in the Indian Ocean, seaborne raiders tried again on Wednesday to commandeer the Maersk Alabama, the first American-flag ship seized by pirates last April. The United States Navy Central Command said four suspected pirates in a skiff came within 300 yards of the Maersk Alabama at 6.30 a.m. Wednesday about 600 miles off the northeast coast of Somalia as it headed for the Kenyan port of Mombasa.

But a security team on board the Maersk Alabama responded with small-arms fire, long-range acoustical devices painful to the human ear and evasive maneuvers to thwart the attack. “Due to Maersk Alabama following maritime industry’s best practices such as embarking security teams, the ship was able to prevent being successfully attacked by pirates,” said Vice Adm. Bill Gortney, the commander of the Central Command. “This is a great example of how merchant mariners can take pro-active action to prevent being attacked.”

In a separate incident, the captain of a hijacked chemical tanker was reported to have died of gunshot wounds inflicted when pirates seized the MV Theresa with 28 North Korean crew members northwest of the Seychelles on Monday. The spate of attacks reflected the increasing boldness of pirates roaming far from their bases in Somalia to seize vessels and sailors to hold for ransom.

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Somali pirate suspects indicted in Spain

A Spanish judge indicted two Somali pirate suspects in Madrid, while pirates held a Spanish fishing boat and its crew off the Somali coast for the 46th day. The judge indicted the two on 36 counts of kidnapping -- one for each of the 36 crew members being held, and armed robbery. He ordered the two to appear at a hearing Tuesday, according to a court order.

Pirates seized the Spanish fishing boat, the Alakrana, last month. A day later, Spanish military monitoring the situation captured two pirate suspects as they left the fishing boat, and later brought them to Madrid. The ship's owner, Echebastar Fleet, and relatives of the crew members have pleaded with the court and the Spanish government to return the two suspects to Somalia, as pirate representatives have demanded in conversations with Spanish media.

In a document Saturday, the state prosecutor asked Judge Santiago Pedraz to quickly issue the indictment and conclude the judicial investigation to move the case toward a possible trial. The trial could be held within a few weeks, a spokesman for the state prosecutor's office told CNN. The two suspects, identified as Cabdullahi Cabduwily and Rageggesey Hassan Aji, could face sentences of more than 200 years in prison each.

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Global pirate attacks on the increase

The first nine months of this year has seen more pirate attacks than all of last year. And more than half of those attacks were carried out by suspected Somali pirates, an international maritime watchdog group said Wednesday. "The increased activity in Somalia is the major reason for the spike," said Cyrus Mody, manager of the International Maritime Bureau, which monitors shipping crimes. From January 1 until September 30, pirates worldwide mounted 306 attacks, compared with 293 in all of 2008, the Bureau said.

Of the incidents this year, Somali pirates accounted for 54 percent: they launched 168 attacks. Most of them took place off the east coast of Somalia and in the Gulf of Aden, a major shipping route between Yemen and Somalia. They successfully hijacked 32 vessels and took 533 hostages. Eight others were wounded, four more killed and one is missing, the Bureau said. Somali pirates are still holding four ships for ransom with 80 crew members as hostages.

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France seeks Seychelles' help in trying suspected Somali pirates

French Defense Minister Herve Morin asked Seychelles authorities Sunday to prosecute suspected pirates operating in the Indian Ocean. Bringing to justice suspected Somali pirates captured by international navies in the Indian Ocean has proven difficult as lawless Somalia cannot try them, while most European countries do not want to take in a suspected pirate who may then claim asylum. This month, 11 suspected pirates were captured after they tried to attack French tuna boats. The Somalis were released shortly afterward due to a lack of evidence.

On a trip to the Seychelles, Morin told reporters he had asked authorities to set up a legal system allowing for the trial of such suspects. But Joel Morgan, the Seychelles minister in charge of environment, resources and transport, said the island lacked the resources. "We have a single prison here, for some 300 people, so taking in a large number of Somalis can cause problems with capacity," he said. France is protecting its tuna fleet off the Seychelles by deploying marines on the civilian ships. Morin said that mission would be extended into next year.

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