Two dozen U.S. Marine commandos from the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit at Camp Pendleton stormed a pirate-held cargo ship off the Somalia coast Thursday, reclaiming control and taking nine prisoners without firing a shot in the first such boarding raid by the international anti-piracy flotilla, U.S. Navy officials told the Associated Press.
The mission - using small craft to reach the deck of a German-owned vessel as the crew huddled in a safe room below - ranks among the most dramatic high seas confrontations with pirates by the task force created to protect shipping lanes off lawless Somalia.
The crew managed to kill the engines before taking refuge in a panic room-style chamber, leaving the ship adrift and the pirates so frustrated they started damaging equipment after hijacking the vessel Wednesday, Navy officials and the ship's operator tell Associated Press.
Lt. John Fage, a spokesman at the U.S. Fifth Fleet headquarters in Bahrain, described the pre-dawn raid to Associated Press as an "air and sea" assault that included Cobra attack helicopters for surveillance and coordination. It was the first boarding raid since the multinational task force was formed in January 2009 to patrol off the Horn of Africa, said U.S. Navy Cmdr. Amy Derrick-Frost in Bahrain.
Fage told AP there were no injuries reported among the Marines or 11-member crew of the Magellan Star. The pirates were armed with AK-47 assault rifles, but "there were no shots fired" on either side, Fage said. The Marines were aboard the San Diego-based amphibious transport craft Dubuque as part of Combined Task Force 151. The 15th MEU has also been assisting Pakistan with humanitarian aid.
