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: Infamy or Praise

TGIS: Thank God It's Schadenfreude! (193)

This week's joy in the misfortune of others comes courtesy of TimesOnline (from Thursday, November 13; link good at time of posting):

Pirates caught redhanded by one of Her Majesty?s warships after trying to hijack a cargo ship off Somalia made the grave mistake of opening fire on two Royal Navy assault craft packed with commandos armed with machineguns and SA80 rifles.

In the ensuing gunfight, two Somali pirates in a Yemeni-registered fishing dhow were killed, and a third pirate, believed to be a Yemeni, suffered injuries and subsequently died. It was the first time the Royal Navy had been engaged in a fatal shoot-out on the high seas in living memory.

By the time the Royal Marines boarded the pirates? vessel, the enemy had lost the will to fight and surrendered quietly. The Royal Navy described the boarding as ?compliant?.

. . . .

The commandos found guns and other ?paraphernalia? on board the dhow and a handful of terrified pirates.

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Full post as published by Infamy or Praise on November 14, 2008 (boomark / email).