Pirate Wars:operating area

                         "we are not pirates,we are gentleman, defending our shores from foreign fisherman"
                                                                              Jamal Akhmed

Jamal Akhmed

 The IMB estimates that 53 ships were hijacked worldwide in 2010 - 49 of them off Somalia's coast - and says a record 1,181 hostages were taken.

The problem also appears to be growing. Overall, there were 445 pirate attacks in 2010, a 10% rise from 2009, the IMB says.

Meanwhile, maritime piracy costs the global economy between $7bn (£4.4bn) and $12bn (£7.6bn) a year, according to a separate study by a US think tank.


Somali vigilantes have captured 12 armed pirates in two boats, as coastal communities begin to fight back against the sea raiders. Regional leaders at Alula and Bargaal in Somalia's northern Puntland region told the BBC they have put together a militia of fishermen to catch pirates. They decided to act as they were fed up with their fishing vessels being seized at gunpoint by the ocean-going bandits.

excerpts  from bbc