Somali Pirates: Tugboat Grabbed in Gulf of Aden

Reported as Pirates seize U.S.-owned, Italy-flagged tugboat:

Pirates seized a U.S.-owned and Italian-flagged tugboat with 16 crew on Saturday in the latest hijacking in the busy Gulf of Aden waterway, a regional maritime group said.

In another report here, it is claimed that at least one pirate group has abandoned their "support mission" to the kidnappers of Captain Phillips of the Maersk Alabama:

Somali pirates using a commandeered a German cargo ship to search for a U.S. hostage being held in a lifeboat have returned to port, sources say.

Pirates steered the hijacked German ship Hansa Stavanger back to the Somali port of Eyl Saturday after using it to search for other pirates holding Capt. Richard Phillips in a lifeboat adrift in the Gulf of Aden, a Somali journalist told CNN.

The German ship, which was hijacked on April 4, was one of several captive vessels that pirates have been using to search for the lifeboat, believed to be about 300 miles off the Somali coast, the U.S. broadcaster said.

Using hijacked ships to aid their comrades seems somewhat foolish to me. A bird in the hand and all that . . .