The Indian Navy reaffirmed its leading role in fighting resurgent piracy off Somalia, rushing to the aid of another captured vessel on Friday.
According to a navy statement, Indian warships INS Sumedha and INS Trishul intercepted the Al Kambar — a fishing boat boarded by armed pirates on Thursday — as it was sailing 90 nautical miles (about 170 km) southwest of the Yemeni island of Socotra.
The rescue operation took place after more than 12 hours of “intense coercive tactical measures”, a navy spokesman posted on social media platform X.
“The pirates on board the hijacked FV [fishing vessel] were forced to surrender,” he added.
In a tweet earlier on Friday, the spokesman had said the boat was Iranian and it had been hijacked by nine armed people.
In a second tweet, he said the Al Kambar’s crew consisted of 23 Pakistani nationals, all of whom were “safely rescued”.
No information was released on the suspected pirates’ nationality. According to another message released on Saturday, they are being brought to India to face piracy-related charges.
They will share a fate with several Somali pirates already arrested by Indian forces after attacking fishing boats in the same region in recent weeks, probably in an attempt to use them later as mother boats for raids on larger vessels.
The Indian Navy has taken a leading role in thwarting such attempts.
In January, its special forces captured pirates engaged in fishing boat hijackings and foiled another assault on a bigger ship — the 170,100-dwt Lila Norfolk (built 2006).
Most spectacularly, Indian special forces freed 17 seafarers and 35 Somalis on the 41,600-dwt Ruen (built 2016) in March. The captured Somalis are about to be charged and tried for piracy in India.
The Ruen had been hijacked 450 miles east of Socotra in December, marking the return of Somali piracy in the Indian Ocean after a lull of nearly seven years.
