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The success for INS Tabar to neutralise rising sea piracy off Somalia came in the first major offensive from among dozens of warships from several countries protecting shipping lanes in the area when it destroyed the 'mother ship' of a group of pirates after a fierce battle on Tuesday.
The pro-active operation from the Indian Navy comes a week after it saved two merchant vessels--one from India and other from Saudi Arabia-- from being hijacked by sea pirates on Nov 11 in the Gulf of Aden near the Horn of Africa.
The Navy said the stealth frigate, currently deployed there for anti-piracy surveillance and patrol operations, successfully took on the pirates last evening, 285 nautical miles south west off Salalah in Oman. The frigate was deployed for the anti-piracy mission since November 2.
INS Tabar encountered the pirates' mother ship with two speed boats in tow and there were about 20 pirates on board the ship, it is learnt. Pirates use mother ships, generally hijacked trawlers, to tow speedboats from which they launch their attacks. They are also loaded with food, diesel and water.
"This pirate vessel was similar in description to the 'Mother Vessel' mentioned in various piracy bulletins. INS Tabar closed in on the vessel and asked her to stop for investigation," a Navy spokesperson said.
But the pirates threatened to blow up the warship if it sailed closer to their mother ship, despite repeated calls from INS Tabar to stop and let the Navy personnel to inspect the ship, he said.
The Navy noticed that pirates were roaming on the upper deck of the vessel with guns and rocket propelled grenade launchers in hand, and they continued the threats and subsequently fired upon INS Tabar.
In their retaliatory action in "self-defence," INS Tabar opened fire on the mother vessel of the pirates. "As a result of INS Tabar's guns booming, fire broke out on the pirate vessel and explosions were heard, possibly due to exploding ammunition that was stored on the vessel," he said.
Almost simultaneously, Indian Navy said, two speed boats were observed breaking off to escape. The ship chased the first boat, which was later found abandoned. The other boat made good its escape into darkness, he added.
While some of the pirates could have escaped in the speed boats, a few on board the destroyed mother ship perished, he said.
The incident came as shipping groups reported a new surge in hijackings off Somalia and the International Maritime Bureau said pirates based in the lawless African nation were now ‘out of control’.
INS Tabar was deployed on anti-piracy mission in the Gulf of Aden since November 2. Western Naval Command has been controlling the anti-piracy operation since October 23 when the government ordered the Navy to deploy a warship in Gulf of Aden with the mandate to save Indian merchant vessels distressed by pirates.
Since deployment, INS Tabar has successfully escorted 35 ships, including a number of foreign-flagged vessels on receiving their request, safely during their transit through pirate-infested waters of the Gulf of Aden.
It also threw back pirates, who attempted to hijack an Indian and a Saudi vessels on November 11 and accompanied the two merchant ships to safety.
The Indian action against pirates comes days after the release after the Japanese ship M V Stolt Valor with 18 Indian crew members hijacked from Gulf of Aden by Somalian pirates on September 15.
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Good one India. Glad to see the country doesn't take crap from these pirates. The more that die the fewer will sign up for the job.
Great !!!. But our missions won't get deserved publicity. Our pride is not even flashed with in us.
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Go Navy! Get some pirates!
Very Well Done, INS Tabar
we have proved to the world that indians are will be the next emerging super powers leave alone country's who use their power only for war.
welll done you proved your self to be a indian,where is the super powers they dont have time to waste on this silly matters ,if the one country feels to deploy the navy of their country they could have done but no body is coming forwardthe ships plying in this area are all the income of the specific coutries but it is not for the the pirates to playwhy is america silent on this -i feel this pirates buy arms from them and they can run their part nof businessgive the entitre of the gulf of aden to the indian navy they will clean it and make it a safe passage for the international route i am being an ex indian navy sailor i am proud of my country and thr fellow sailors athe officersi congratulate them from my heart
The action took by India Navy is really great land mark.The pirates has been abducting ships for past few decades in this region and demanding for ransom money.This action has shown the sence of reponsibilty of Indian Govt .As many Indian crew member were the sufferer for the same.Its now time to show for other countries show their concern over this issue and solve the problems of the victim country.
A remarkable feat by the Indian Navy, but this will not be fully appreciated by the timid politicians who rule India. The nervous politicians will now seach for excuses and start blaming the brave Indian sailors. Most of pirates are muslims and the "secular" UPA Govt
A GREAT ACHIEVEMENT THAT HAS MADE THE INDIANS PROUD! WHAT ARE THE NAVAL FORCES OF OTHER COUNTRIES DOING OUT OVER THERE. I AM SURE INDIAN NAVY COULD CLEAN UP EVEN THE MALACCAN STRAIT. SEA PIRATES ALL OVER THE WORLD SHOULD BE DEALT WITH SIMILARLY. SOURCE OF PIRACY IS THE COASTAL REGION AND THE SOURCE OF PIRACY MUST BE NABBED WITH THE HELP OF ARMY OR AIR FORCE AND BLOWN UP TO ENSURE SAFETY IN HIGH SEAS
Although most of the press focus is on the attacks themselves and the appalling failure of Western powers to stop the piracy, behind the scenes Western intelligence agencies have been trying to track the flow of ransom money.Whistleblower has learned that a classified internal report at the US Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) has concluded that the pirates are funded by expatriate Somalis and Emiratis based in Dubai. This determination is based, in part, on an independent Interpol probe that managed to identify several moneymen behind the high sea piracy. All live in Dubai.
My heartiest felicitations to the crew of INS Tabar for this excellent operation. This will definitely act as a deterrent to the pirates and they will be forced to cut down their acts. I appeal to the Government to put more Coast Guard ships in such areas to step up security for ships, which are engaged in trade activities. In the same way enough vigil be kept in the Indian waters to have a watch on the infiltration of militants from neighbouring countries. The act of crew of INS Tabar needs necessary recognition by the Government.
all those idiots questions the validity of this news, all you have to do is to search "indian navy" on google news.. and you will see this being reported by all other news channels., even bbc has it. Do your homework first, dont jump the gun. But looks like the the indian military has more freedom operating outside our borders. If they could do that within .. the we could have them kill all our corrupt politicians. what a shame that it is not the case.!
Sri, all the news channels claim that " Indian navy has reported that it destroyed a pit=rate ship...'No independednt verification or photographs
Congratulations to the the INS Tabor and its crew for standing up to these Somali law breakers!
BZ to INS Tabar. I'm only sorry we've re-called the Canadian Navy's contribution to the pirate problem. Hopefully we'll be back. I've attempted to find a web page for the Tabar to congratulate them directly, but to no avail.
CONGRATULATION FOR A JOB WELL DONE!I HAVE SEEN THIS MENACE FROM THE NEWS PAPER. I AM UPSET TO SEE WHAT THE PIRATES DO. I HAVE READ STORIES ON PIRATES. MEN, THIS IS REAL NOW. DO WE HAVE MORE NAVY VESSEL TO BRING NEAR THE SOMALI COAST. BLOW THESE MOSLEM MILLTANTS OFF. AFTER THIS PROJECT WE NEED TO GO TO DELHI AND MOMBAI AND BIHAR AND UP AND SOLVE THESE POLITICAL ISSUES WITH BULLETS.
Well done Indian Navy! Govt of India must allow Indian Armed Forces to operate and penetrate into Somali territory and waters. India's economy depend a lot on safe passage of goods thru these infested waters. Fair amount of Indian Merchant Navy personnel work on ships. We owe them much more than we think. At least one more Indian Navy ship must patrol in the horn of Africa. My son is a Merchant Navy officer and my thanks go out to these brave men who serve to protect what needs to be protected.GO NAVY GO!!! BLAST THESE PIRATES TILL THEY NO WHERE TO RUN !!!
Why dont we now clean up the thousands of mini-Pakistans flourishing all over India under the patronage of our "secular" UPA government and the English Press which is totally anti-India, pro-Pakistan and pro-Muslim? Deploy Air Force and Navy to destroy these traitors being supported by UPA Govt headed by an Italian(Sonia Maino) and the 5th columnists.
Well done and congratulations. But why are the claims not been substantiated by publishing pictures of sinking or burning pirate ship?
Congratulations!! Well done. You did something which Superpowers could not do until now.
Well done India!!! Keep up your watch for Pirates and Hijackers. We dont want such incidents happen again
Good job done by our Navy, when even the US ships could not ward off hijacking of Saudi supertanker carrying millions of crude barrels !!
Great work! May be we should deploy Navy in Parliament and clean up the MPs (Member of Pirates) there!
WE HOPE WHATEVER NAVY IS CLAIMING IS TRUTH. DOING THINGS IN INTERNATIONAL WATERS IS A STICKY ISSUE. WE CAN NOT DO THINGS LIKE WE DO IN INDIA LIKE BEATING A SUSPECT AND ASKING HIM TO SIGN A STSTEMENT WRITTEN BY A CISTOMS (OR A POLICE) INSPECTOR (I WAS A CUSTOMS INSPECTOR IN INDIA 1974 TO 80). THESE TRICKS MAY NOT WORK. THESE PIROTS ARE NOT A MATCH TO ANY ARMY. BUT THERE ARE MANY ISSUES INVOLVED, THERE ARE EVEN US NAVY REFRAINS FROM DOING SO.
I congradulate Indian Navy for this success. Somalia waters are disturbed