Pirates attack US cargo ship

Somali pirates fired rocket-propelled grenades and automatic weapons at another US cargo ship in a failed hijack attempt.

The attack came just days after US Navy SEALs rescued an American hostage after an earlier unsuccessful hijacking.

The brazen midday attack on the Liberty Sun in international waters off the African coast is further evidence that Somali pirates were back to business as usual.

Pirates have seized four other ships with 60 hostages since sharpshooters killed three gunmen holding American freighter captain Richard Phillips. “No one can deter us,” one bandit boasted.

The Liberty Sun’s American crew was safe after pirates fired rocket-propelled grenades and automatic weapons at the vessel, its owner, Liberty Maritime Corporation said today.

There were no injuries but the ship received unspecified damage, the Lake Success, New York-based company said.

A US Navy destroyer, the USS Bainbridge, responded to the attack but the pirates had departed by the time it arrived six hours later, Navy Capt Jack Hanzlik said.

The Bainbridge is the same destroyer from which the snipers killed the three pirates holding Mr Phillips captive aboard a drifting lifeboat for five days.

The Bainbridge was carrying Mr Phillips to Kenya when it was called to respond to the attack on the Liberty Sun.

The Liberty Sun, with its crew of about 20 Americans, was carrying humanitarian aid to Mombasa, Kenya, Capt Hanzlik said. It continued on its way to Kenya after the attack under navy escort.

The bandits are grabbing more ships and hostages to show they would not be intimidated by President Barack Obama’s pledge to confront the pirates, according to a pirate based in the Somali coastal town of Harardhere.

“Our latest hijackings are meant to show that no-one can deter us from protecting our waters from the enemy because we believe in dying for our land,” Omar Dahir Idle said.

“Our guns do not fire water. I am sure we will avenge.”

The pirates have vowed vengeance for five colleagues killed by US and French forces in two hostage rescues since Friday.

The chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Michael Mullen, said he took the pirates’ threats seriously, but added: “We’re very well prepared to deal with anything like that.”

Mr Phillips, 53, of Underhill, Vermont, will return home to the US today, after reuniting with the 19-man crew of the Maersk Alabama in the Kenyan port of Mombasa, according to the shipping company Maersk Line.