Marines kill two Somalis in raid on pirate vessel

Royal Marines have shot dead two Somali gunmen in a raid on a fishing boat used by pirates in the Gulf of Aden.

The men were killed yesterday during a firefight with British forces after the Type-22 frigate, HMS Cumberland, intercepted a boat suspected of being used in the attempted hijack of a Danish ship. A third man found on board, believed to be Yemeni, died of injuries which may have been sustained during the earlier attack, the Ministry of Defence said.

Royal Navy ships are taking part in anti-piracy patrols in several regions, but this is believed to be the first time recently that British service personnel have been involved in a confrontation that resulted in deaths.

The incident, which took place 60 nautical miles south of the Yemeni coast, came against the background of a dramatic rise in piracy, with gangs seizing large vessels and using them to launch raids on freighters. The European Union had agreed 24 hours earlier to deploy its first marine mission in an effort to combat the threat.

Operation Atalanta, made up of a flotilla of seven ships, will be run from Britain's Permanent Joint Headquarters at Northwood, Middlesex, under the command of Vice-Admiral Philip Jones. The UK is also in the process of drawing up a memorandum of understanding with the Somali government to make it easier to arrest pirates.