01 March 2010 - 18H58  

NATO sinks Somali pirate mothership
A pirate boat in the Gulf of Aden off Somalia in 2009. A NATO warship has sunk a mothership used to ferry gangs of pirates in the seas off the coast of Somalia.
A pirate boat in the Gulf of Aden off Somalia in 2009. A NATO warship has sunk a mothership used to ferry gangs of pirates in the seas off the coast of Somalia.

AFP - A NATO warship has sunk a mothership used to ferry gangs of pirates in the seas off the coast of Somalia, an alliance spokesman said Monday.

The Absalon, flagship of the Royal Danish navy, "disputed a piracy attack in the Somali basin on Sunday and then scuttled a mothership," the NATO spokesman said.

Such ships are key to the pirates' policy of moving their attack teams into an area from which they can launch their raids on passing vessels.

Somali pirates, targeting one of the world's busiest maritime trade routes, raked in an estimated 60 million dollars in ransoms last year.

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