An Iraqi tribe from the south of the country sent members to fight Somali pirates to recover a ship that had been hijacked, Arabic social-media reports claimed on Friday. The tribe said it had recovered a ship after Somali pirates hijacked it, the reports said.
Iraq’s Al-Shaghanba clan said it had sent members to the Gulf of Aden off Somalia’s coast. The tribal members then “succeeded in recovering a ship owned by a merchant from the tribe,” the reports said.
The ship had been in the hands of pirates for a month. It had been transporting oil from the UAE to Europe.
When Somali pirates seized the ship and demanded ransom, tribal members set out to the sea off Somalia, apparently in coordination with the Somali government, and fought a gun battle with the pirates, according to the reports.
Video posted online showed two men, apparently from the tribe, with belt-fed machine guns shooting at the pirates.
The battle at sea lasted around five hours, and several of the pirates were killed or wounded and then captured, the reports said. Video and photos show several vessels involved in the clash. It was not clear how it developed.
Al-Shaghanba quotes Islamic text, calls actions of pirates 'sinful aggression'
The Shaghanba clan is part of the Obadah tribe, or qabilat, Basra Today, a regional digital news and media platform, reported. This indicates that the Shaghanba is part of a larger tribal group.
“But if anyone transgresses against you, then transgress against him in the same way as he transgressed against you,” the report quoted an Islamic text as saying. “And fear Allah; and know that Allah is with those who fear Him.”
“Following the sinful aggression carried out by Somali pirates against one of our ships, and after communication, coordination, and obtaining authorization from the fraternal government of the Republic of Somalia, we were able to recover the ship in Somali waters, arrest the aggressors, and take measures against them,” the report said.
Kurdistan24, a new channel based in northern Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan Region, reported: “Forty members of a Basra tribe helped free an oil tanker seized by pirates in the Gulf of Aden, capturing seven alleged attackers and securing the release of the crew, according to a local media report citing a tribal sheikh.”
Sheikh says tribal group captured seven pirates during battle
According to the report, Sheikh Ali al-Shaghanba said the tribal members had come from Abu al-Khasib, south of Basra, on the Shatt al-Arab waterway. The men came from the village of Jaykur, close to the Iran-Iraq border. “Seven alleged pirates were captured during the operation, while others escaped,” he was quoted as saying.
In August, the Turkish Navy said it had battled pirates off the coast of Somalia. It had killed 14 pirates and destroyed four of their boats in a 10-day operation, it said.