French commandos swoop after pirates free hostages
PARIS (Reuters) - French commandos seized six pirates inSomalia on Friday during a daring helicopter raid launchedshortly after the bandits had released the 30-strong crew of aluxury yacht hijacked last week.
French officials said the owners of the yacht paid a ransomto obtain the freedom of the crew and as soon as it was clearthat they were all safe, the commandos went into action aboardhelicopters to track down the pirates.
A district commissioner in Somalia told Reuters that fivelocal people had died in the attack, but the French militarydenied killing anyone in their daylight raid.
"It was an intervention not a pulverisation," GeneralJean-Louis Georgelin, head of the armed forces general stafftold a news conference in Paris.
Georgelin said the French military tracked the pirates,believed to be Somali fishermen, after they made landfall andmoved in when they saw some of the gang getting away in a car.
A sniper in one helicopter shot out the car engine whileanother helicopter dropped off three French soldiers whocaptured the six pirates and hauled them off to French navyhelicopter carrier waiting off the Somali coast.
"It is the first time an act of piracy in this area hasbeen resolved so quickly ... and it is also the first time thatsome of the pirates have been apprehended," Admiral EdouardGuillard told the news conference.
Georgelin said no public money was paid to free thehostages but he indicated that the ships owner had paid aransom, part of which was found with the escaping pirates.
"When we captured the pirates we also recovered someinteresting bags," he said.
French media reported that $2 million (1 million pounds)was paid by the owners, but family members who met PresidentNicolas Sarkozy said they were simply relieved that thehostages were free.
"We don't know how much they paid and really, we don't wantto know," Karim Meghoufel, whose brother-in-law was the yacht'schief pastry chef, told reporters at the Elysee Palace.
PARACHUTE MISSION
Around 12 pirates grabbed the three-masted yacht, thePonant, last Friday, about 850 km out to sea in the Gulf ofAden. They then sailed the boat to the Somali coast, eventuallymooring at Garaad, near the town of Eyl.
The French navy sent 2 boats to the area, with 4 or 5helicopters on board and around 50 commandos. A French admiralwas also parachuted into the sea and picked up by the taskforce to help lead the operation.
The Foreign Ministry said the crew, 22 of whom are French,would be repatriated as soon as possible. Most of the othercrew members came from Ukraine and the Philippines.
General Georgelin said President Nicolas Sarkozy made clearhe wanted all the hostages released without harm, but addedthat the military would "probably" have intervened if thepirates had tried to split up the group or taken them off theboat.
French officials said the pirates would be tried in France.They said Paris would also seek much tougher United Nationsaction against maritime piracy.
Piracy is lucrative off lawless Somalia and most kidnapperstreat their captives well in anticipation of a good ransom.
France said it would present new anti-piracy measures tofellow members of the United Nations Security Council next weekaimed at toughening the war against sea banditry.
"This phenomenon is increasing, with the pirates becomingever better equipped and organised," said Jean-David Levitte,Sarkozy's chief diplomatic advisor.
"We are confronted by a real, real threat," he said, addingthat over the last 10 years 3,200 sailors had been kidnapped bypirates, 500 injured and 160 killed.
(Additional reporting by Abdiqani Hassan in Somalia andEmmanuel Jarry in Paris, editing by Giles Elgood)