MOGADISHU, Somalia — Rival pirates and militia groups have fought for control over a British couple held hostage for more than a week, an Islamic militia commander and a local elder said Monday. The couple were not injured in the fighting.
Meanwhile, a U.S.-flagged cargo vessel with 21 Americans aboard came under gunfire from suspected Somali pirates but managed to escape, a U.S. Navy spokesman said.
Elders sent local fighters to thwart an attempt by some of the pirates holding the couple to take them to an extremist Islamic group, said a commander of a rival moderate Islamic militia who gave his name only as Ilka’ase.
“We did not want the pirates to use our territory to hold hostages or hand them over to another group. We took up arms with the help of (the moderate Islamic group) Ahlu Sunna Waljama and opposed” the other group, said Hussein Mohamed Kahiye, a clan elder in the central Somali village of Bahdo.
It was not possible to independently verify the reported fight over the British couple. The couple had been held on a ship at sea, but Kahiye said the couple were now in the coastal areas and traveling in two minibuses and an all-terrain vehicle.
A pirate claiming to speak on behalf of the group holding the British couple had said on Saturday that they want a $7 million ransom to release Paul and Rachel Chandler. The British government has said it would not pay a ransom.
The Chandlers were headed to Tanzania in their yacht, the Lynn Rival, when a distress signal was sent Oct. 23. The British navy found their empty yacht last Thursday, and the Chandlers have been in sporadic contact with the British media since.
Also Monday, the MV Harriette was targeted by pirates aboard two skiffs about 360 nautical miles off Mombasa, Kenya, Lt. Nate Christensen said. The pirates — about six in each craft — came within 3 feet of the cargo vessel but were unable to board, Christensen said from U.S. 5th Fleet headquarters in Bahrain.
No one on the U.S. ship was injured, he said, and no other details of the incident were available from the U.S. Navy, which is part of anti-piracy patrols off the Horn of Africa.
A security officer with Sealift Inc., the company that operates the MV Harriette, said the captain steered the ship to prevent the pirates getting on board and drew fire from the pirates.
The captain, “was able to turn away from the boat, he was able to maneuver to keep the small boats far away so that they could not get a ladder on the boat (MV Harriette),” John Belle said from the company’s headquarters in Oyster Bay, N.Y.
“After they attempted to board and they were unsuccessful … they did fire. No one was injured. Some of the rounds hit the lifeboat of the ship,” Belle said. He said the attack ended within 25 minutes.
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