Somali troops free Iranian sailors from pirates’ captivity

ADADO – Security forces with a regional administration in central Somalia on Wednesday freed four Iranian sailors kidnapped by pirates last year, officials said Thursday.

Troops from Galmudug administration have reportedly raided a house occupied by pirates near Adado town after tip off by residents, freeing the hostages who were chained inside a villa house.

No causalities have so far been reported as soldiers later moved the freed Iranian sailors to safety to prepare them to fly to Tehran in the next few days.

No comment could be reached from the Iranian foreign ministry on the operation which freed five of ten Iranian sailors abducted in Somalia last year.

Five more Iranians remain in pirates’ custody as two pirate factions who hijacked the fishing vessel on which the Iranians were onboard have separated their hostages after arguments.

Iran is among dozens of countries that sent flotilla to Somalia’s coasts to plunder the country’s rich fishing grounds.

A recent report by the United Nations Somalia and Eritrea monitoring group warned that piracy that caused havoc to international shipping off Somalia’s coast over the past decade may return if illegal foreign fishing, worth an annual $306 million is stopped.

Growing local resentment risks a revival of the piracy epidemic that roiled the region from about 2001 to 2012, the group said.