PARIS — After a dramatic chase on the high seas and exchanges of fire between private security contractors and pirates off Somalia, the European Union Naval Force released six suspected attackers who had tried to commandeer a cargo ship heading for Mogadishu, the naval force said on Thursday.
The suspects were freed because the captain of the ship they were accused of attacking declined to identify them for the purposes of legal action, Cmdr. John Harbour, the spokesman for the naval force, said in a telephone interview.
The suspects were placed in a skiff and given enough fuel and water to reach the shore, he added.
They were captured after private contractors on board the cargo ship, the Almezaan, repulsed two attempts to commandeer the vessel and killed a seventh attacker in the process, according to the naval force, which is based in Britain.
The fatality was believed to be the first caused by private security personnel hired to counter the threat of piracy off Somalia, Commander Harbour said.
The release of the suspects illuminated the obstacles blocking the prosecution of assailants captured on the largely unregulated high seas where jurisdiction is unclear.
The Almezaan, for instance, is owned by a company in the United Arab Emirates, but flies the Panamanian flag. Its captain is Pakistani, while the nationality of the crew members and the private contractors who repelled the attack was unclear, the naval force said.
The death of one of the attackers could escalate the struggle between pirates and merchant shipping in the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean, where cargo ships increasingly carry private security teams. Some maritime organizations believe the presence of armed contractors may make pirates adopt more aggressive tactics. The death of the attacker also raised legal questions about the accountability of private teams, a United Nations official said.
The episode happened early on Tuesday when the Almezaan came under attack from pirates using high-speed skiffs controlled by a mother ship, the naval force said.
Twice the pirates attacked the vessel, and twice they were repulsed as a Spanish frigate, the Navarra, sped toward the scene, Commander Harbour said.
“Normally, the private security firms fire warning shots” to repel pirates, he said. But on Tuesday, “the pirates came for a second time firing their guns, and the security team fired back,” he said. Asked if the killing was the first by a private security team, he said, “I believe that is the case.”
A helicopter from the Navarra located the pirates and fired warning shots while a team from the frigate went aboard the pirates’ boats. In one pirate skiff, which was riddled with bullets, the boarding party found three pirates and the body of a fourth who had been hit by small-arms fire, Commander Harbour said.
Six suspected pirates were arrested.
When members of the European boarding team took the captured men back to the Almezaan, Commander Harbour said, the ship’s captain declined to give evidence that would have identified them as the assailants. It was not clear what had happened to the body of the slain attacker.
While several pirates have died in encounters with international naval forces, Arvinder Sambei, a legal consultant for the United Nations’ antipiracy program, said the role of private security operatives this time “will be scrutinized very closely,” The Associated Press reported.
“There’s always been concern about these companies,” she told the A.P. “Who are they responsible to?”
Ms. Sambei continued, “The bottom line is somebody has been killed, and someone has to give an accounting of that.”
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