Ransom demanded for Saudi oil tanker release

MOGADISHU (AFP) - An Indian warship destroyed a pirate "mother vessel" in the Gulf of Aden, the navy said Wednesday, as bandits demanded a ransom for a Saudi super-tanker seized in the most daring sea raid yet.
The Indian frigate INS Tabar, one of dozens of warships from several countries protecting shipping lanes in the area, attacked the Somali pirate ship late Tuesday after coming under fire, navy spokesman Nirad Sinha said.
The incident came as shipping groups reported a new surge in hijackings off Somalia and the International Maritime Bureau said pirates based in the lawless African nation were now "out of control". "From what we see in photographs the pirate vessel is completely destroyed," a senior Indian officer said on condition he not be named.
Somali pirates are demanding a ransom in return for release of the Saudi super-tanker Sirius Star, a man presented as one of the pirates said Wednesday, according to an Al-Jazeera audio tape. In Rome, the Saudi Foreign Minister said that the owners of the tanker were in negotiations Wednesday with the pirates.
"I know that the owners of the tanker, they are negotiating on the issue," Prince Saud al-Faisal said when asked about media reports that the owners were in talks with the pirates over a possible ransom.
"We do not like to negotiate with either terrorists or hijackers, but the owners of the tankers are the final arbiters of what happens there," Faisal told reporters in Rome.
"What we know is that we are going to join the task force that we will try eradicate this threat to international trade."
The company which operates the Sirius Star has remained tight-lipped about the claims of negotiations. "We cannot confirm, nor deny" reports of negotiations with the hijackers, said Mihir Sapur, the spokesman of Vela International, a subsidiary of Saudi oil giant Saudi Aramco.
Seized in the Indian Ocean some 800km off the African coast, the Sirius Star is now anchored at the Somali pirate lair of Harardhere, according to local officials. The super-tanker has 25 crew - 19 from the Philippines, two from Britain, two from Poland, one Croatian and one Saudi. It was the largest ship yet taken by Somali pirates and the attack furthest away from Somalia.
Andrew Mwangura, from the East African Seafarers Association, said a Thai fishing boat, a Hong Kong-registered freighter, the Delight, and a Greek bulk carrier were seized on Tuesday in the Gulf of Aden.
The Greek merchant marine ministry said it had no word of a Greek-flagged or Greek-owned vessel being seized but the other hijackings were confirmed.
The Delight, chartered by the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines, was carrying 25 crewmembers and 36,000 tonnes of wheat when it was seized on its way to the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas.
On Wednesday, the pirates released another Hong Kong-flagged ship, MV Great Creation, and its 25 crew seized two months ago, Mwangura told AFP, adding that it was unclear whether a ransom was paid.
In southern Somalia, the Muslim alliance controlling the key port of Kismayo promised tough measures to protect ships.
"We will set up marine forces and will protect all ships and vessels from the pirates off the coastal areas we control," Sheikh Hasan Yaqub, spokesman for the Islamist administration in Kismayo told AFP. The International Maritime Bureau urged the world to fight piracy.
"The situation is already out of control," said Noel Choong, head of the piracy reporting centre at the IMB in Kuala Lumpur.
"With no strong deterrent, low risk to the pirates and high returns, the attacks will continue."
Speaking in Beirut, British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said: "It is important that the whole world recognises that it (piracy) is a threat to trade and prosperity."