A round-the-world boating adventure ended tragically Tuesday for four Americans, whom pirates fatally shot after capturing their yacht in the Indian Ocean last week, U.S. officials said.
Before two [tag]pirate[/tag] leaders departed the captured yacht where they held four Americans earlier this month, a maritime source says they left instructions: Kill the hostages if we do not come back from negotiations.
A couple who had been kidnapped by Somali pirates and held in captivity for more than a year were released, Somali officials said.
Lawyers for men accused of attacking a warship said they did not fully grasp the charges or trial.
Blackwater tried to find business offering protection from Somali pirates and sought the aid of the American Embassy in Djibouti, a 2009 cable said.
Arms transfers to southern Sudan, which will soon vote on secession, were revealed by Somali pirates.
A history of the Barbary pirates who menaced the Mediterranean for three centuries.
The spokesman for the European Union’s antipiracy force says Somali pirates went farther south last weekend than ever before to attack vessels.
Pirates escalated their attacks for the fourth straight year, striking more ships and taking more hostages in 2010 than in any year on record, according to an annual report on piracy.