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Piracy

June 13, 2009

NATO officials say that pirates have seized an Antigua and Barbuda-flagged cargo ship off the coast of Oman in the first recorded attack in its territorial waters.

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German frigate "Karlsruhe" is to support new anti-piracy missionImage: AP

The pirates were reportedly steering the MV Charelle towards Somalia. According to initial reports, the ship is a German-owned vessel, however, the German foreign ministry has not confirmed this.

"I can confirm a ship, the MV Charelle, has been hijacked Friday afternoon inside Oman's territorial waters", said Commander Chris Davies, NATO's maritime spokesman.

"This is the first noted case of armed robbery in Oman's territorial waters, outside the normal area where the pirates are operating. It's quite unusual," he said. "The ship is now heading south towards Somalia."

No information has been released about the ship's crew. NATO officials said this was the first case of piracy outside the normal operations area of pirates.

There are currently 14 hijacked ships being held by Somali pirates with an estimated 200 crew on board.

Earlier on Friday NATO defence ministers agreed to prolong the military alliance's anti-piracy operations in the Gulf of Aden, with at least six countries ready to take part in the new mission. The German frigates "Karlsruhe" and "Brandenburg" are to support the NATO mission, dubbed "Ocean Shield", as from the beginnig of July.

nrt/dpa/AFP
Editor: Andreas Illmer

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