Pirates vow to retaliate for deaths of colleagues after US operation to free captain

Nairobi: Pirates have vowed to retaliate for the deaths of three colleagues, following a US Navy operation to free a US captain.

The prospect of a pirate attack has raised fears for the safety of 230 foreign sailors held hostage in more than a dozen ships anchored off Somalia.

"Every country will be treated the way it treats us. In the future, America will be the one mourning and crying," said Abdullahi Lami, one of the pirates holding a Greek ship anchored in the Somali town of Gaan. "We will retaliate (for) the killings of our men."

"From now on, if we capture foreign ships and their respective countries try to attack us, we will kill them (the hostages)," said Jamac Habeb, another pirate.

Habeb said the US forces have "become our No. 1 enemy."