Pirates Killed By Kenyan Naval Officers

Somali pirates made a fatal error when they boarded a Kenya Navy patrol vessel that they thought was a merchant ship.

Kenyan navy officers on patrol in the India Ocean shot dead three suspected Somali pirates who boarded their vessel after mistaking it for a merchant ship, a military spokesman said on Saturday.

The Kenya Navy said the three were in the company of several others who tried to seize the patrol vessel late on Friday some 21 nautical miles off Kilifi.

"The Navy vessel was on normal patrol at around 11 p.m. in Kilifi area ... when four suspected Somali pirates on board a speed boat climbed the vessel, mistaking it for a merchant vessel," Bogita Ongeri, Department of Defence spokesman, told Reuters by phone.

"Three of them ... gunned down by naval officers while one dived into the sea with bullet wounds during the scuffle."

Ongeri said the fourth pirate most likely died from his wounds.

"Several others, whose number could not be immediately established, escaped in the speed boat that they were using," he said, adding that the dead pirates' bodies had been taken to Mombasa's Coast General Hospital.

By: Shelldrake