India Navy Gets the Green Light 'to Go After Pirates'

Via BBC -

The Indian navy has been given formal approval by the United Nations to go after pirate ships in Somali waters, the BBC has learnt.

The UN approval authorises India to go in "hot pursuit" of pirates, naval sources told the BBC.

On Tuesday, an Indian warship sank a suspected Somali pirate vessel after it opened fire on it in the Gulf of Aden.

Piracy incidents have surged off the Somali coast. A number of Indian crews have been on ships hijacked by pirates.

Earlier this week, a Saudi Arabian supertanker, the Sirius Star, was hijacked along with 25 crew.

The tanker, loaded with oil worth $100m, is now anchored off the Somali coast.

"The UN approval which allows Indian warships to enter Somali waters has been conveyed to us recently," a naval source told the BBC.

"We can now enter the Somali territorial waters under certain circumstances. It would be only to check piracy," he said.

India has called for greater co-operation between foreign navies to tackle the piracy threat.

Sources said India would be working along with the navies of the countries in the Indian Ocean region.

According to some reports, the Indian navy is also planning to send at least one more warship to the Gulf of Aden.

Local media reports said that INS Mysore - a destroyer - would be deployed as early as next week.

The Navy refused to confirm the report, saying it did not discuss deployment of ships.

But naval sources said it was yet to be decided whether a new warship would replace the INS Tabar - which sank the pirate "mother ship" this week - or boost its operations.