Islamist militants who seized a pirate stronghold on the Somali coast will liberate any foreign hostages they find, a militia commander said, but the brigands had already fled on land and were also sailing off with several captured foreign ships.
Dozens of fighters from the militant group Hizbul Islam rolled into Haradhere on Sunday, group officials said on Monday. Pirates piled their big-screen TVs into the luxury cars they had bought with ransom payments and drove off, avoiding a clash. At least four hijacked ships anchored near Haradhere moved toward Hobyo, another pirate den, said Haradhere resident Osman Gure.
The head of operations for Hizbul Islam, Sheik Mohamed Abdi Aros, said his fighters have not come across any hostages yet, but if they did the militants would release them along with any hijacked ships. Pirates hold more than 300 hostages taken from ships attacked off East Africa in the last several months.
“Hizbul Islam came here to install Islamic Shariah law in this region and fight piracy, which we consider un-Islamic,” Aros said by telephone. “We hope to curb the dirty business.”
Shariah is a conservative and often harsh interpretation of Islam.
Drugs, alcohol and prostitutes have flooded Haradhere along with the millions of dollars in ransom money pirates have received.
Pirates are armed with rocket propelled grenades and assault rifles, but likely won’t fight Hizbul Islam, said one self-proclaimed pirate, Maslah Yare. He said one pirate leader had 60 machine guns but still fled.
“They like life and don’t want to die,” Yare said. “Every pirate will tell you, ‘Why do I have to fight? I have enough money to survive. I’m not going to engage in a fight with Islamists.’”
Roger Middleton, a piracy expert at the British think tank Chatham House, said pirates may simply move their operations farther north.
For its part, Hizbul Islam was kicked out of the southern port town of Kismayo by the more powerful Islamist militant group al-Shabab and could be looking for a new base for its operations.
Middleton said it’s not clear whether Hizbul Islam will resist the financial lure of the pirate trade, adding: “These aren’t completely pure organizations.”
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