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Egyptian crew escape Somali pirates, kill two

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-08-15 00:43

MOGADISHU:Nearly forty Egyptian crew members on board two hijacked fishing boats killed two of the pirates, wound another before managing to break free themselves and their ships from pirates, a pirate commander said on Friday.

The crews and the two fishing ships had been held hostage for nearly four months off the northern coast of war-torn Somalia.

"Our colleagues were attacked by the crews of two ships with everything they could set hand on including machetes, and metal bars," a commander of another pirate group, in northeastern autonomous region of Puntland, told Xinhua.

The pirate, who asked not to be named, said two of the pirates were killed while a wounded one jumped overboard and was found on the shore. He added several pirates are thought to be "taken hostage" by the crews who now reportedly sailed towards a Yemeni port.