Seamen freed from armed pirates

Seamen freed from armed pirates

INDONESIA: Authorities freed all 11 crew of a fishing vessel
seized by pirates in the Malacca Strait, and arrested the
attackers, who were Aceh separatist rebels, a military spokesman
said on Saturday.

More than a quarter of the world's trade and half of its oil
pass through the Malacca Straits.

The International Maritime Bureau (IMB) says armed piracy,
including attacks on oil tankers, is increasing in the Malacca
Strait and other waters between the Southeast Asian nations of
Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore.

All three pirates, captured during a rescue operation on
Thursday, were members of the group of the Free Aceh Movement
(GAM), a military spokesman in war-torn Aceh said.

"The pirate attack was carried out by GAM," spokesman Asep
Sapari said in the provincial capital city of Banda Aceh.

-- Reuters