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Africa Horn

Spanish fishing boat seized by pirates off coast of Somalia

2008-04-21

A Spanish tuna fishing boat carrying a crew of 26 was seized on Sunday by pirates off the Somali coast, Spain's foreign ministry said, adding no one was injured in the attack. The Playa de Bakio "was boarded and apparently seized while it was fishing in Somali waters" at 1:00 pm (1100 GMT), the ministry said in a statement. Thirteen of the crew are Spanish nationals, it said, while Spanish media reported that their remaining 13 crewmates are African nationals.

Four pirates armed with grenade launchers seized the boat, which is based in the Basque town of Bremeo, some 400 kilometres (250 miles) off the coast of Somalia, Basque government officials told the Europa Press news agency.

The ship was damaged in the attack but it is still able to sail and it appears to be headed towards land, they added. "The defence ministry has instructed one of its ships which is nearby to head immediately to the area of the incident," the foreign ministry's statement said.

A Spanish military frigate that was in the Red Sea was heading towards the are where the fishing boat was seized, a government source said. The defence ministry has also been in contact with military officials of nations with a military presence in the area to request "logistics support and help in locating the affected boat, the statement added.

Posted by:Fred

#9 Just a side note, remember September 19 is Talk Like a Pirate Day. Website HERE .

Posted by: Alaska Paul 2008-04-21 21:15

#8 The B-1Bs are our heavy bombers. It can carry internally what the 52Gs could carry total.

Too bad the Air Force is going to spend another $40 billion to develop another stealth bomber and be lucky to buy 20. Instead they could modify a Boeing 777 for a few billion and get a bomber with a 200,000 lb payload or 8000nm range. Perfect for dumping on the barbarians for the next 50 years.

Posted by: ed 2008-04-21 15:25

#7 An ARCLIGHT strike was a thing of beauty. VC would reputedly stagger out of the jungle bleeding from the ears just from the concussion. But, OP, I am sorry to say that there is nothing left of the BUFF fleet but some H models. The G's were chopped up at Davis Montham as part of START II. At last count, there were 93 H's intact but only 56 combat coded. Although I don't really know anymore, I think the H's are set up to carry 27 in the belly and 24 on the wings. Big difference is that the bombs are JDAMS and can be retargeted while the BUFFs are airborne.

Posted by: RWV 2008-04-21 14:14

#6 I keep saying, but nobody's listening, that all it takes to put a stop to this sh$$ is a couple of ARCLIGHT strikes in retaliation. Run a half-dozen BUFFS loaded to the gills with 500lb bombs over one of these Somali "fishing ports". After it's done, tell the Somalis either they capture and hang the pirates, or we do it again... and again... and again. The only thing Arabs - and most other muslims - respect is STRENGTH. An ARCLIGHT strike is a display of STRENGTH.

The G-model buffs can carry 86 iron bombs. Six times that is 516. That would turn one of those Somali "fishing villages" into an unbelievable hell for its residents. Having been on the ground relatively "close" to an ARCLIGHT strike (~25 miles), I can attest to the effectiveness of it as a mind-changer. It's long past time to change some minds in the muddled east.

Posted by: Old Patriot 2008-04-21 13:46

#5 "YARRR! Give us yer tuna!"

Posted by: mojo 2008-04-21 10:49

#4 Unless you are willing to go around Cape Good Hope, you have to go near Somalia when you travel from Europe (or US east coast) to the Indian ocean.

Posted by: JFM 2008-04-21 09:57

#3 Exactly what I thought, Barbara. Great minds do think alike.

Posted by: BA 2008-04-21 08:22

#2 What is so damned attractive about Somali waters that all these unarmed people are putting around there?

Posted by: Albert Spiting4247 2008-04-21 06:08

#1 "The defence ministry has also been in contact with military officials of ~~nations with a military presence in the area~~ France to request ~~logistics support and help in locating the affected boat, the statement added~~French commandos get the boat back, since they're so experienced at it."

There - fixed.

Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2008-04-21 01:07

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