Somali Pirates Attacks Private Security Guards

Piracy has been world problem for centuries but lately, piracy has been eradicated except in some part of the world for example in countries like Somalia piracy where piracy provides huge income!

Piracy in the Indian Ocean has been a threat to international shipping since the second phase of the Somali Civil War in the early 21st century.

Since 2005, many international organizations have expressed concern over the rise in acts of piracy.

Piracy impeded the delivery of shipments and increased shipping expenses, costing an estimated $6.6 to $6.9 billion a year in global trade according to Oceans Beyond Piracy.

Somalians cruising off the east coast of Africa in fishing ships and small motorboats, who use AK-47s, rocket-propelled grenades, grappling hooks and ladders to board enormous merchant ships to hold hostages for ransom.

That is, they used to wreak havoc doing that, but not so much anymore, once the merchant ships increasingly started hiring private security contractors armed with AR-15s and other weapons to defend against takeovers by pirates.

Since 2008, pirates operating off East Africa have successfully hijacked 170 ships, costing the global economy as much as $12 billion per year, killing dozens of hostages and holding the ships and their crews for ransoms of up to $9.5 million.

At least 11 vessels and 188 hostages are still being held by pirates, and a hostage held for two years was executed just a week ago when his ship’s owners failed to pay his ransom quickly enough.

However, in the past two years, the pirates have run into trouble. While the number of attempted pirate attacks peaked in 2011, according to the International Maritime Bureau, the number of successful attacks began to fall, from 49 ships in 2010 to 28 ships in 2011. This year, the number of attempts has plunged as well. The first six months of 2012 saw a 60 percent reduction in attacks, down to 69 incidents from 163 incidents during the same period in 2011.

In fact, since June, there has not been one successful pirate attack in the waters off East Africa, marking the longest stretch of peaceful transit through the region since piracy began to mount a decade ago.
Below we can see a viral video where a security company defends one ship from the pirates!

The man in charge of the group initially told the defenders to fire warning shots, but as he explained later to ABC News, those warning shots turned into a full-fledged engagement once the pirates attempted to return fire from their small boats.