Somali pirates strike again, India sinks pirate ship

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Somali pirates have now seized three ships off the coast of the Horn of Africa since hijaking their largest target ever, the Sirius Star carrying $100m worth of oil, report agencies.
A Greek tanker, a Thai fishing boat and a Hong Kong-registered vessel have been captured in the past 48 hours despite a large international naval presence in the waters off Somalia.
Andrew Mwangura, co-ordinator of the East African Seafarers' Assistance Programme said on Wednesday that the Greek vessel had been taken in the Gulf of Aden Tuesday.
According to the International Maritime Bureau (IMB), the Thai fishing boat had 16 crew members on board.
An Indian warship deployed to Gulf of Aden has been engaged in a battle with Somali pirates, the navy has said.
The pirates' vessel had been destroyed, and two accompanying speed boats sped away after the main vessel was blown up.
Meanwhile: Pirates have anchored a hijacked Saudi oil tanker off the Somali coast, as the spate of hijackings gathered pace with two more ships seized Tuesday, reports BBC.
Vela International, operators of the Sirius Star, told the BBC no demands had yet been received from the pirates. The company said earlier all 25 crew on board the supertanker were safe.
The biggest tanker ever hijacked, Sirius Star is carrying a cargo of 2m barrels - a quarter of Saudi Arabia's daily output - worth more than $100m.
Two more ships were also taken in the Gulf of Aden, the narrow waterway to the north of the Somali coast.
The hijackings of the cargo ship and a fishing vessel bring the total number of vessels attacked by the pirates this year to 95.
The 25-crew cargo vessel transporting wheat to Iran was attacked early on Tuesday in the Gulf of Aden, while contact was lost with the crew of 12 on the fishing boat on Tuesday morning.
Vela International said it was waiting for "further contact" from pirates aboard the Sirius Star, which was seized on Saturday 450 nautical miles (830km) off the Kenyan coast.
Negotiations for the crew's release could be costly and protracted, says BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner.
The pirates are a sophisticated group with contacts in Dubai and neighbouring countries, says the BBC Somali Service's Yusuf Garaad.
Much of their ransom money from previous hijackings has been used to buy new boats and weapons as well as develop a network across the Horn of Africa, he adds.
There have been at least 90 attacks by Somali pirates this year and more than 200 crew are still being held for ransom along the Somali coast.
Meanwhile:The Indian navy has said that one of its warships in the Gulf of Aden has destroyed a ship belonging to pirates operating off the coast of Somalia.
The INS Tabar opened fire on a pirate "mother ship" after it came under attack, a government statement said. There has been a surge in piracy incidents off Somalia.
Vela International, operators of the Sirius Star, told the BBC no demands had yet been received from the pirates. The company also said all the crew were safe.
India is among several countries are already patrolling the Gulf of Aden, one of the world's busiest shipping lanes which connects the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean.
Fire broke out on the vessel and explosions were heard, possibly due to exploding ammunition that was stored in the vessel
The Indian navy said the Tabar spotted a pirate vessel while patrolling 285 nautical miles (528km) south-west of Salalah in Oman, Tuesday evening.
Another report adds: Somali pirates have seized another ship, a Greek bulk carrier, despite a large international naval presence in the waters off their lawless country, a regional maritime group said Wednesday.
The vessel was the second they have taken since the weekend's spectacular capture of a Saudi supertanker carrying $100 million of oil that was the largest hijack in history.
It was the latest attack in a wave of Somali piracy this year that has driven up insurance costs, made some shipping companies change their routes and prompted an unprecedented military response from NATO, the European Union and others.
An explosion in piracy this year off the poor and chaotic Horn of Africa nation has been fueled by a growing Islamist insurgency onshore -- gun battles broke out again in Mogadishu Wednesday -- and the lure of multi-million-dollar ransoms.