Shootout: Somali Pirates Attempt To Hijack A Boat

(Via NY Daily News)-A cargo ship said ahoy to Somali pirates with a hail of gunfire.

Video posted Thursday shows a private security crew fighting off two skiffs of high-seas bandits.

By Saturday it had gone viral with more than 6 million views of the recording, which resembles something out of a “Call of Duty” video game.

More [HERE].

The Pirate Negotiator

By Caitlin Dickson/TheDailyBeast.com

Ali Mohamed Ali faces life in prison on piracy-related charges. But is he a criminal mastermind or a Good Samaritan? The truth is likely something in between.

Proof of life: Behind the hostage industry

Remarkably, she became the chief hostage negotiator and carried through Nigel's rescue to the point of entering Somalia and delivering the $500,000 ransom in cash in a backpack.

Her experience of how to respond to a ransom demand and whose advice not to take provide an intriguing insight into the world of hostage taking and negotiation.

Journalist recalls her kidnapping, torture, rape; yet forgives Jihadist captors

Amanda Lindhout in Somalia
Photo credit: Canadian Press

Canadian freelance journalist Amanda Lindhout has written a book about her traumatic 15 months in captivity, and the torture she endured at the hands of a gang of Muslim teenagers in Somalia in 2008.

No Ransom, No Release for Hostages of Somali Pirates

Suspected pirates keep their hands in the air as directed by sailors aboard
the guided-missile cruiser USS Vella Gulf (CG 72) (not shown), in the Gulf
of Aden, February 11, 2009.

NAIROBI — In recent months the number of pirate attacks along Somalia’s coast has dropped, but an estimated 97 seafarers remain in the hands of pirates.  Many of these hostages are uninsured and negotiations for their release have come to a standstill.