By REUTERS
Published: January 28, 2010
Filed at 5:53 a.m. ET
NAIROBI (Reuters) - Somali gunmen hijacked a Cambodian cargo ship, the MV
Layla-S, off Berbera after it unloaded at the port in the breakaway northern
enclave of Somaliland, a regional maritime official said Thursday. "Crew
members on board the ill-fated vessel are ... Pakistani, Indian, Sri Lankan,
Somali and Syrian nationals," Andrew Mwangura of the Mombasa, Kenya-based East
African Seafarers' Assistance Program said in a statement.
"It is said that the vessel has a link with Syrian and UAE businessmen. We are
informed that she was taken by gunmen after discharging her cargo." The
hijacking appeared to have happened Wednesday, but few other details were
immediately available. The seizure came a week after Somali pirates freed a
Greek-flagged tanker carrying 2 million barrels of oil for a record ransom.
Somaliland, which declared itself independent in 1991, is proud of its relative
stability compared with the south of Somalia, where hardline Islamist rebels
control large amounts of territory and are battling a weak Western-backed
government.
Worldwide, piracy attacks rose by nearly 40 percent last year, with Somali
gangs accounting for more than half the 406 reported incidents, the
International Maritime Bureau says.
Typically, pirates from the failed Horn of Africa state hold the captured ships
and crews hostage until ransoms are paid.
The International Chamber of Shipping, which represents 75 percent of the
global seaborne industry, said this month that it felt deepening frustration at
the international community's "impotence" in combating growing piracy in the
Indian Ocean.
(Reporting by Daniel Wallis; Editing by Giles Elgood)
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