27 Aug 2009
Somali pirates defying a multi-national anti-piracy mission in the region have reportedly opened fire on a US navy helicopter from aboard a hijacked vessel.

The US navy said Thursday that a shootout had happened the previous morning as a helicopter was carrying out a surveillance mission over the vessel.

There has so far been no report of casualties or damages from the incident in the piracy-ridden waters off Somalia.

"Somali pirates aboard the motor vessel Win Far fired what appeared to be a large caliber weapon at a US navy SH-60B helicopter," AFP news agency cited a statement from the Bahrain-based US Naval Forces Central Command as reading.

"The helicopter was conducting a routine surveillance flight of M/V Win Far, currently held at anchorage by Somali pirates south of Garacad, Somalia, when the incident occurred," it added.

According to the navy, the Win Far is a Taiwanese-flagged vessel seized along with its 30 crewmembers earlier this year and has been used as a 'mother ship' to conduct other known pirate attacks, "most notably the US-flagged Maersk-Alabama in April".

The international naval presence in the dangerous Gulf of Aden waters is unable to monitor and patrol all of the shipping lanes that connect Europe to Asia -- an area that spans more than 2.5 million square miles.

This year, the number of attempted attacks on merchant vessels rose to 114, only 29 of which were successful, according to the US navy figures.

The pirates usually hold the ships and crew for millions of dollars in ransom.

presstv