US, British forces free hijacked Italian ship off Somalia

[1]

Italy's defence ministry said on Tuesday that British and US commandos had freed an Italian vessel with a crew of 23, which had been hijacked by eleven pirates off Somalia.

The ship's crew also includes 10 Indians.

"The vessel has been freed... thanks to the joint intervention of two ships from the United States and British navies," which had been operating as part of NATO's anti-piracy operations, Ocean Shield, the ministry said in a statement.

The pirates 'gave themselves up and are being held in detention', it said.

A spokesman for NATO's Allied Maritime Command Headquarters at Northwood in Britain confirmed that a NATO operation was underway off the coast of Somalia, but refused to say which countries' forces were involved.

The M/V Montecristo cargo ship was captured about 620 miles east of the Somali coast on Monday, with a crew of seven Italians, 10 Ukrainians and six Indian nationals aboard.