British and Irish anti-piracy experts rescued - after pirates attack

British and one Irish security guard have been plucked from the sea by a military helicopter after jumping from a chemical tanker seized by pirates off Somalia. Their decision to abandon the two dozen crew members still on board attracted some criticism, but their British employer insisted that the three former soldiers were heroes who had resisted a sustained attack by heavily-armed pirates with great courage and would have been killed if they had stayed any longer. “They were unarmed. They had no other option...As far as I’m concerned they deserve a medal,” said Nick Davis, a former British army pilot who runs Anti-Piracy Maritime Security Solutions (APMSS) out of Poole, Dorset. The attack happened early this morning as the Liberian-flagged tanker, the Biscaglia, was sailing through the Gulf of Aden from India to Rotterdam. more..http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/africa/article5253731.ece

Pirate plan goes global with intel sharing

Top Navy leaders are sharing highly classified intelligence and their new Maritime Domain Awareness system with close allies to more effectively combat a rising tide of piracy across the Horn of Africa, a senior Navy official said. The move comes as the U.S. and its allies grow concerned over the possibility of pirates forming ties with terrorist groups. Marshall Billingeslea, the deputy undersecretary of the Navy, led a delegation that included senior service intelligence and piracy experts to Brussels, Belgium, on Nov. 18 for meetings with top NATO military officials and ambassadors. Ongoing counterinsurgency operations include some 18 ships from NATO and European Union nations, as well as Russia and India. more..http://www.navytimes.com/news/2008/11/navy_pirates_112808p/