Published: 3:27PM BST 29 Mar 2010
The six Seychellois fishermen were safe, said Joel Morgan, the island nation's minister for transport and environment in charge of antipiracy, while the Iranians and the pirates were in the process of being rescued.
He explained that six Seychellois fishermen were captured by Somali pirates southeast of the archipelago's main island Mahe over the weekend and transferred to an Iranian dhow that was earlier captured with its crew of 21.
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Mr Morgan said the pirates ignored the coastguards' audio calls to release their hostages and did not alter their course when warning shots were fired.
"We took the decision to open fire on the engine compartment, 10,000 12.7mm rounds were fired ... and we continued our harassment operation until we achieved what we wanted, which was to set fire to the engine," he said.
Mr Morgan said all on board had to jump off the boat but nobody was wounded.
"We rescued the six Seychellois, the 21 Iranians are being rescued and the Somalis will be rescued too," he said.
Over the past year, ransom-hunting Somali pirates have drifted away from the heavily patrolled Gulf of Aden to launch their attacks further out at sea.
The Seychelles, whose economy relies heavily on tuna-fishing and tourism, has had several ships hijacked since 2008 and has since taken tough action to combat the scourge piracy, with robust international backing.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... tages.html ']
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Why do Nato and other associated countries never do this? 10,000 rounds through the boat engine seems to have worked a treat
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I can only laugh at the hypocrisy. Privateering is a time honoured avenue into international trade. Go Somalia.
Oh yeah some have dropped out