Somalian pirates hijack U.N. aid vessel

Somalian pirates hijack U.N. aid vessel Pirates hijacked a cargo ship delivering U.N. food aid to northeastern Somalia on Sunday, Associated Press reported Monday.
   The ship, the 'Rozen,' had just dropped off more than 1,800 tons of food aid in the semiautonomous region of Puntland in northeastern Somalia when the pirates struck, said Stephanie Savariaud, a spokeswoman for the U.N.'s World Food Program.
   It was not immediately known if any of the 12 crewmembers aboard ' six from Sri Lanka and six from Kenya ' were injured in the attack.
   'We know it has been hijacked by pirates, but we do not know how many pirates there are,' Savariaud told AP. 'We are very concerned about the safety of the crew.'
   An attempted hijacking on the same ship in March last year by five pirates armed with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades was unsuccessful as the vessel managed to outrun the hijackers.
   AP reported that the United Nations has explored alternative transport routes to Somalia, but that overland routes are also troubled by the lack of security and lawlessness.
   'Somali pirates are trained fighters, often dressed in military fatigues, using speedboats equipped with satellite phones and global positioning system equipment,' the story said. 'They are typically armed with automatic weapons, antitank rocket launchers and various types of grenades, according to the U.N. Monitoring Group on Somalia.'
   In 2005 pirates overwhelmed one vessel carrying U.N. World Food Program aid, and the number of overall at-sea hijackings was 35, compared with two in 2004, according to the International Maritime Bureau.