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Tuesday, September 30, 2008

'Shoot-out' aboard hijacked ship

Somali pirates on board a hijacked ship are reported to have been involved in a shoot-out over what to do with the vessel's cargo of tanks and weapons.
An East African maritime group, which is monitoring the situation, told the BBC that three men were shot but the extent of their injuries was unclear.
Pirates seized the Ukrainian ship last week, demanding a $20m (£11m) ransom.
They dismissed the claim of infighting as "cheap propaganda", in a phone call to the BBC Somali Service.
"There has been no exchange of fire at all. We're in good shape," spokesman Sugule Ali told the BBC.
"This is cheap propaganda being spread by people not aware of our situation."
He added that the pirates were participating in dialogue, without going into detail.
"I am optimistic this can be resolved peacefully," he said.
In a separate development, the state-owned Malaysian shipping firm, MISC Berhad, said two of its ships had been recovered after it paid a ransom to pirates.
A spokesman said paying ransoms was against company policy, but had been necessary to obtain the release of its crew.

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