Pirates captured in raid

French forces captured 11 pirates in a raid on a supply ship off the coast of Kenya today as attacks and counterattacks raised tensions in one of the world’s most important shipping lanes.

The raid, 550 miles east of Mombasa, thwarted a planned attack on a Liberian-registered vessel.

Meanwhile, Somali pirates fired grenades and automatic weapons at an American freighter loaded with food aid, but the ship escaped and was heading to Kenya under US Navy guard.

The Liberty Sun’s American crew was not injured in the latest attack, but the vessel sustained some damage, its owner said. The sailors successfully blockaded themselves inside the engine room – the same tactic the Maersk Alabama crew used to thwart last week’s attack on their ship.

The attack foiled the reunion between the American sea captain rescued by Navy snipers and the 19-man crew of the Maersk Alabama who he saved with his heroism.

Capt. Richard Phillips was planning to meet his crew in Mombasa and fly home with them today, but he was stuck on the USS Bainbridge when it was diverted to help the Liberty Sun.

Despite President Barack Obama’s vow to take action against the rise in banditry and the deaths of five pirates in French and US hostage rescues, four vessels and more than 75 hostages have been taken since Sunday’s dramatic rescue of an American freighter captain.

That brought the total number of sailors being held by Somali pirates to more than 300 on 16 different ships – a distinct surge in the number of captives over the last few days.

Pirates can extort US$1m (759,667) or more for each ship and crew seized off the Horn of Africa – and Kenya estimates they raked in 150m (€113.9m) last year.

One of the pirates whose gang attacked the Liberty Sun said today his group was specifically targeting American ships and threatened to kill Americans.

“We will seek out the Americans and if we capture them we will slaughter them,” said a 25-year-old pirate based in the Somali port of Harardhere who gave only his first name, Ismail.

“We will target their ships because we know their flags. Last night, an American-flagged ship escaped us by a whisker. We have showered them with rocket-propelled grenades,” he claimed.