Pirates and kidnappers

Indian dhow gets captuted by Somali pirates:

Pirates captured an Indian dhow close to the Somali capital Mogadishu, a Kenyan maritime official said on Friday, in the latest raid off one of the world's most dangerous coastlines. Andrew Mwangura, director of the East African Seafarers Assistance Programme, said he had no information about the crew or cargo aboard the vessel, the Al Haqeeq.

"The only information we have is that she was seized outside the port of Mogadishu. It's an Indian dhow," Mwangura told Reuters by phone.

Oil workers kidnapped off Nigeria:

Two Britons were among six oil workers kidnapped from a pipe-laying vessel off Nigeria's coast.

The rest of the group was made up of three Americans and a South African, industry sources said.

Shots were fired during the abduction by suspected militants in two speed boats off the coast of the southern state of Bayelsa.

It came a day after gunmen kidnapped a Polish engineer near the oil city of Warri, which took the number of foreign workers being held by armed groups in the delta to 16.

Abductions for ransom or to press political demands are frequent in the impoverished Niger Delta, home to Africa's biggest oil industry.

Oil production from Nigeria, the world's eighth biggest exporter, is down by about 700,000 barrels per day or almost a quarter because of an 18-month surge in violence.
***
The militants are demanding regional control over oil revenues, compensation for oil spills and freedom for two jailed leaders from the region.
***
About 100 foreigners have been kidnapped this year and released unharmed after their employers paid ransoms.

Latest Piracy Report from the ICC Commercial Crime Services (to 22 May 07) here. Highlight, though the report contains a lot of activity off Africa, especially Nigeria and Somalia (go figure):

09.05.2007: 1800 LT: Posn 07:47N -
120:21E, Philippines.
15-armed pirates with masked faces approached a tug towing a barge underway, in a speedboat. The speedboat closed to a distance of 150 meters from the tug but stopped when it encountered engine problems. The tug used this opportunity to escape from the attempted pirate attack / hijacking. The master reported that the area was active for Abu Sayyaf rebel’s activities