Turkiye, Somalia forces free cargo vessel hijacked by pirates

Somali authorities say 14 pirates were killed in the 10-day operation to free a Cameroon-flagged cargo vessel.Turkish and Somali forces have freed a cargo ship held captive by pirates off the coast of Somalia’s semi-autonomous Puntland state, according to authorities.In a statement on X on Saturday, the Somali Ministry of Defence said that “14 pirates” died in the operation to free the Cameroon-flagged MV Latuf.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3Suspected pirates steer cargo vessel towards Somalialist 2 of 3Suspected Somali pirates seize tanker near Yemen amid wave of hijackingslist 3 of 3Gunmen seize tanker off Yemen amid resurgence of Somali piracyend of listFour of their boats were also destroyed, it said.The Defence Ministry said that “sustained pressure from the forces ultimately compelled the remaining pirates to abandon the vessel”, allowing the forces to take control of the ship.The rescue operation was conducted under a defence cooperation agreement between Somalia and Turkiye, aimed at strengthening maritime security, protecting Somalia’s coastline and combating piracy, it said.The Somali Defence Ministry did not provide details about any casualties or the wellbeing of the ship’s crew.A local elder, Abdullahi Warsame, from the Jiifle community in the Godob Jiraan district of Puntland’s Nugal region, told The Associated Press news agency that the vessel and its crew had been freed.The MV Latuf left the Turkish Port of Tekirdag in late July. It was hijacked on August 17 in waters off the coast of the Nugal region of Puntland, a semi-autonomous federal state in northeastern Somalia.According to the Marine Traffic website, the cargo ship has continued its voyage to its reported destination in Dar-es-Salaam in Tanzania.Piracy was rampant off the coast of Somalia in the 2000s, peaking in 2011, before being curbed by international naval deployments and new protection measures for commercial shipping.