Merchant Vessels Fend Off Attackers in Gulf of Aden

Depending on how you look at it, CNN reports some good news from the Gulf of Aden:

Five attempts to hijack ships off the coast of Somalia were thwarted Tuesday by the ships’ crews, the U.S.-led coalition that monitors the region said Wednesday.

“Even when shots were fired during two of these attacks, the crews of commercial shipping vessels conducted evasive maneuvering and used fire hoses to repel their attackers,” the Combined Maritime Forces, a U.S.-led naval coalition involving several nations, said in a statement.

Vice Adm. Bill Gortney, commander of the Combined Maritime Forces, praised the commercial ships’ crews.

“The proactive measures taken yesterday by merchant vessels are exactly what we have been recommending,” he said in Wednesday’s statement.

While it is good to hear that some vessels are taking action to fight off pirates, the fact that there were five attacks in one day WITH, among others, 7 NATO warships in the area really speaks to the severity of the problem.

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