Somali pirates seize weapons ship, attack another

By Abdi Guled

MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Somali pirates have seized a United Arab Emirates-flagged cargo ship loaded with weapons bound for the anarchic Horn of Africa nation in contravention of a U.N. arms embargo, maritime experts said on Monday.

Andrew Mwangura of the East African Seafarers' Assistance Programme told Reuters that the ship, which he believed was using the fake name Al Mizan, had been hijacked on Sunday and was now being held near the northern Somali town of Garacad.

"She is one of the regular weapons carriers circumventing the U.N. arms embargo on Somalia," Mwangura said.

The country has been torn by 18 years of civil war and hardline Islamist rebels linked to al Qaeda are fighting to topple President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed's U.N.-backed-government.

Some 19,000 civilians have died since the start of 2007 and more than 1.5 million have been driven from their homes, triggering one of the world's worst humanitarian disasters.

In the latest pirate attack, gunmen from Somalia opened fire on an unidentified merchant vessel far out in the Indian Ocean on Monday, about 400 nautical miles northeast of the Seychelles.

The merchant vessel caught fire after being hit by bullets and a rocket-propelled grenade. Mwangura said there were no casualties and that the captain remained in control.

"There have been 12 pirate events in this area in the last 30 days. There is a high probability of attacks in this area for at least the next 24-48 hours. Weather conditions are expected to remain favourable for piracy...through this period," he said.