It is good to see some results in the fight against piracy in the Aden Gulf area. According to the Guardian, at least 32 ships have been hijacked in the area this year. It has been going on for years, and also in other parts of the world, but doesn’t really get much prominence in the press here – except when the pirates get something really noteworthy. When they captured a ship full of Russian tanks bound for Kenya it prompted a bit more action from Russia and Europe. It was a sort of tippingpoint, or last straw I guess.
I think I preferred the treatment of the same story in the Times, if only for one specific phrase which provoked a (probably inappropriate, but amusing) mental picture for me.
The key paragraph is this:
The commandos found guns and other “paraphernalia†on board the dhow and a handful of terrified pirates. The MoD said it was unclear whether the Yemeni who died had been shot by the Marines or was wounded from a previous incident involving the pirates.
I’m pretty sure that the printed (European – not UK) edition said “pirate paraphernalia”. I had this vision of the marines searching the boat and finding eye patches, parrots, cutlasses, maps with a big X on them, Copies of Kings of the Wild Frontier and posters of Johnny Depp.
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