European tourists seized from yacht off Somalia
MOGADISHU (The Nation/DPA): Four European citizens have been seized from a yacht off Somalia’s pirate-infested coast, Somali officials said yesterday.
The district commissioner of the Las Korey area said that the four – the captain of the yacht plus a family of three – were abducted overnight on Sunday as they sailed through the Gulf of Aden.
The kidnappers reportedly abandoned the yacht on the shore and disappeared inland with their hostages, believed to be German or French nationals.
Piracy is rife off the coast of the Horn of Africa. Cargo ships and luxury yachts have been targeted by the heavily-armed pirates, who then hold the crew to ransom.
The UN Security Council recently approved incursions into Somali waters to curb piracy, which the weak transitional government, currently engaged in countering a bloody insurgency, is powerless to stop.
Somalia has been in a state of anarchy since the overthrow of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991.
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