Somali Islamists vow to end piracy, pirates flee with ships

Somali pirates have moved a British couple kidnapped from their yacht to a village in Somalia, as the bandits argued over whether to demand ransom or a prisoner exchange, a pirate said on Saturday."They were taken to a village outside Harardhere and they are fine so far," Abdi Yare told AFP by phone. Harardhere is a pirate lair on the central coast of Somalia.The Foreign Office confirmed on Friday that the pirates demanded seven million dollars (4.7 million euros) for the release of Paul and Rachel Chandler, who are aged 59 and 55.

At least six people have been killed during intense fighting between rival Somali pirates arguing over a record ransom paid for an oil-laden Greek supertanker, elders and pirates said on Tuesday.Three pirates and a civilian were killed in the latest bout of fighting that erupted in the town of Harardhere late Monday, elders and pirates told AFP by phone.

Piracy off the coast of Somalia is booming despite a massive deployment of international warships, with an estimated combined coast of 40 million dollars a day.NATO, the European Union, United States and other naval powers have sent warships to curb the hijacking of ships yet the number currently under the control of Somali pirates stands at 22, one of its highest ever levels. Hundreds of suspected pirates have been captured but most had to be released immediately for lack of evidence.

Somali pirates snatched 77 Thai fishermen Tuesday, their largest single hostage seizure, in an area of the Indian Ocean well outside the zone protected by an international anti-piracy mission.The fishermen, aboard three vessels, were attacked by pirates about 1,200 miles (2,222 kilometres) from the coast of Somalia, said Commander John Harbour, spokesman for the EU anti-piracy mission EUNAVFOR."It's the furthest east that any attack and any hijacking has taken place, certainly since EUNAVFOR arrived in the area December 2008," he said.

Somali pirates holding a Spanish trawler said Tuesday they had received a four million dollar ransom and that the vessel and its 36 crew would be released immediately."Four million dollars have been paid for the release of the Spanish ship and we're in the process of immediately releasing it," Said Abdulle, one of the pirates holding the ship told AFP by phone."Technically, the ship is free. We're in the process of checking the money," Abdulle said from Harardhere, a pirate lair in northern Somalia.

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) -- A radical Islamic group in Somalia said Friday it will fight the pirates holding a Saudi supertanker loaded with $100 million worth of crude oil....

A NATO warship has sunk a mothership used to ferry gangs of pirates in the seas off the coast of Somalia, an alliance spokesman said Monday.The Absalon, flagship of the Royal Danish navy, "disputed a piracy attack in the Somali basin on Sunday and then scuttled a mothership," the NATO spokesman said.Such ships are key to the pirates' policy of moving their attack teams into an area from which they can launch their raids on passing vessels.

Pirates who captured Spanish tuna boat Alakrana off the Somali coast last month took three of its crew to Somalia to put more pressure on the Spanish government, the wife of one of the fishermen said Thursday."They led away three members of the crew" to the coast, Maria Angeles told Spanish national radio after speaking to her husband by phone.Angeles said the Spanish government was disregarding the pirates' demand that two of the suspected pirates who took part in the attack against the Alakrana and were then taken to Spain be returned to them.