Iranian navy captures 13 Somali pirates

Azerbaijan, Baku, April 3 /Trend D.Khatinoglu/ Iranian navy has captured 13 suspected Somali pirates in late March, Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari said Tuesday, Fars reported. Iranian navy arrested the pirates from 3,000-km distance of Iranian borders in free water The commander of the Iranian navy added that the pirates were detained after they have tried to seize an Iranian oil vessel which however was failed after exchanging fire with an Iranian navy ship patrolling in the region. Sayyari added that the captured pirates are being taken to Iran. It was not mentioned which Iranian ship was attacked by the pirates. On March 22 a speed boat attacked the Iranian tanker "Hengam" in the Arabian Sea. The tanker, which had off loaded its oil in Mediterranean ports and was headed to Kharg Island, managed to evade the pirates' attacks for several hours. Iran's navy came to the tanker's aid. Sea pirates roam the waters from the horn of Africa to Somalia and Kenya's east coast to the north of Madagascar. About 12 million barrels of crude oil are transported through the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait on the way to Europe and the United States and more than 40 percent of liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports pass through the Strait.