Somali forces on Tuesday freed the 11-man crew of a hijacked ship and captured the 10 pirates who seized the vessel last week, according to the foreign minister for Puntland, a semi-autonomous region of northern Somalia.
Puntland's coast guard and Rescue Commando Forces raided the Panama-flagged ship -- the Wail -- in the Gulf of Aden off the Somali coast at 10 a.m. (0700 GMT), Puntland Foreign Minister Ali Abdi Aware told CNN.
Ten pirates hijacked the ship, with its crew of two Somalis and nine Syrians, Thursday night, Aware said.
All 11 are safe, he said. Two coast guard members sustained minor injuries in the rescue operation.
It was the Puntland forces' second attempt to free the ship. On Sunday, their rescue effort triggered a gun battle that left two pirates and a Puntland soldier dead.
The Wail was hijacked while it was heading from Oman to the Somali coastal town of Bosasso -- located in Puntland.
It was one of more than 60 ships that have been attacked by pirates off the Somali coast this year alone, compared with about half that in 2007, according to a report released earlier this month by Chatham House, a London-based institute that analyzes international affairs.
Pirates are still holding a Ukrainian ship carrying Soviet-made tanks, artillery shells, grenade launchers and small arms off Somalia's coast and are demanding a $20 million ransom. The MV Faina was seized in late September and is being monitored by nearby U.S. naval ships.
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