Pirates Kill Hostage to Protest Ransom Delay

Somali pirates holding a hijacked ship for nearly two years killed a Syrian hostage crew member and wounded another.

This is believed to be the first time Somali pirates have killed a hostage because of a delay in ransom.

Hassan Abdi, a pirate commander in Haradhere town, a key pirate center, said that the killing was a message to the owners of the ship MV Orna, a Panama-flagged, bulk cargo vessel owned by a company in the United Arab Emirates) hijacked off Seychelles in 2010.

Somali pirates hijacked the MV Orna after firing rocket propelled grenades and small arms at the ship in December 2010, when it was about 400 miles northeast off the Seychelles.

Source: Navy Times/AP