EU forces strike at Somalia pirate bases

Nairobi: The European Union's (EU) anti-piracy forces yesterday attacked pirate bases along the Somali coast for the first time, using helicopters to destroy suspect boats.

Stepping up efforts against a multi-million dollar criminal enterprise that international navies have struggled to contain, the EU Naval Force (EU Navfor) said it had conducted an overnight attack on pirate targets using helicopters and surveillance aircraft.

It was the first time the EU had taken its fight against the pirates to Somali soil since its mandate was expanded earlier this year to allow strikes on land as well as at sea.

A Somali pirate, who identified himself as Abdi, told Reuters that a helicopter attacked the central Somali coastline near Hardhere, a known pirate haven.

"An unidentified helicopter destroyed five of our hunting boats early in the morning. There were no casualties," he said. "We were setting off from the shore when the helicopter attacked us. We ran away without counter-attacking."

Destroying equipment

EU Navfor said it had carried out the attack to destroy pirate equipment, four days after Somali gunmen hijacked a Greek-owned oil tanker carrying close to a million barrels of crude oil in the Arabian Sea.

EU Navfor's Operation Commander Rear Admiral Duncan Potts said the attack would "further increase the pressure on, and disrupt pirates' efforts to get out to sea to attack merchant shipping and dhows".

Initial surveillance indicated that no Somalis had been wounded as a result of the attack, EU Navfor said.

"We have monitored several locations for quite a long time and the time and place chosen was one of the best opportunities," Timo Lange, a media officer for EU Navfor, said.

Similar attacks

He said the force would launch similar attacks in future "given that those targets will show up again".

The EU extended its counter-piracy operation off the coast of Somalia in March to the end of 2014 and expanded the area it covers to include the coastline itself.

Until yesterday's attack, it had only operated in waters off Somalia. But the decision to extend operations to the Somali coastline means it is now able to target weapons and other equipment stored on the shore in order to reduce the pirates' ability to launch attacks.