U.S. Navy rescues captain and kills 3 Somali pirates

Maersk-Alabama captain Richard Phillips, (R), stands alongside Cmdr. Frank Castellano, the commanding officer of USS Bainbridge, after being rescued by U.S Naval Forces off the coast of Somalia, April 12, 2009. P

MOGADISHU (Reuters) - U.S. Navy special forces freed an American ship's captain and killed three Somali pirates holding him hostage in a lifeboat, ending a five-day standoff but drawing vows of revenge from pirates.

Richard Phillips was just one of more than 250 hostages of many nationalities being held by pirates who have seized dozens of vessels, from oil tankers to luxury yachts, in recent months.

Helicopters once again flew over pirate bases near Eyl on the Somali coast overnight after his rescue.

"They killed our friends on the lifeboat and we thought helicopters would bomb us in Eyl last night," a pirate in Eyl, who called himself Farah, told Reuters.

"We were mourning for dead friends and then roaring planes came -- grief-upon-grief. America has become our new enemy."

The U.S. Navy said Phillips' life was in danger when snipers aboard a U.S. destroyer shot his captors on Sunday, freeing him unharmed and killing three of four pirates who had taken him after trying to seize his vessel. The fourth was in custody.

"They were pointing the AK-47s at the captain," Vice Admiral William Gortney, head of the U.S. Naval Central Command, said in a Pentagon briefing from Bahrain.

"The on-scene commander took it as the captain was in imminent danger and then made that decision and he had the authorities to make that decision and he had seconds to make that decision."

Philips tried to escape on Friday, and tense hostage talks had been under way as the lifeboat drifted, circled by U.S. warships, some 20 miles from the Somali coast.

President Barack Obama granted the Pentagon's request for standing authority to use appropriate force, Gortney said.

Phillips, captain of the U.S.-flagged Maersk Alabama container ship, contacted his family after the rescue, received a routine medical evaluation, and was resting comfortably aboard the amphibious assault ship USS Boxer.

His crew set off flares, hoisted an American flag and jumped for joy at the news of their captain's rescue.

Phillips, 53, was the first American taken captive by Somali pirate gangs who have marauded in the busy Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean shipping lanes for years.

Asked about fears that the pirates could now decide to act more violently, Gortney said, "Yes, there's second and third order effects to every action and this could escalate violence in this part of the world, no question about it."

An Italian tugboat hijacked in the Gulf of Aden arrived at Las Qoray on the north Somali coast, residents said.

"Well-armed pirates on the tugboat ordered us to keep away from areas near them. Two of the pirates came down to town to persuade residents to allow them to stay but I don't know the outcome," fisherman Jama Feysal told Reuters by phone.

Mohamed Salah Dubeys, a local Somaliland military commander, said the pirates were also holding two Egyptian ships with 24 other hostages in the area.

PIRATES VOW REVENGE

Obama, spared another thorny foreign policy crisis to add to his problems with the U.S. economic meltdown and the war in Afghanistan, vowed to curb rampant piracy.

"To achieve that goal, we must continue to work with our partners to prevent future attacks, be prepared to interdict acts of piracy and ensure that those who commit acts of piracy are held accountable for their crimes," he said in a statement.

The saga has drawn world attention to the long-running piracy problem off Somalia, which has pushed up shipping insurance costs and disrupted international trade.

Somali pirates vowed to avenge the shooting of their comrades, as well as a French military assault to rescue a yacht on Friday in which two pirates were killed and three captured.

"The French and the Americans will regret starting this killing. We do not kill, but take only ransom. We shall do something to anyone we see as French or American from now," Hussein, a pirate, told Reuters by satellite phone.

The Maersk Alabama, carrying food aid for Somalis, was attacked far out in the Indian Ocean on Wednesday, but its 20 American crew fought off the pirates and regained control.

Phillips volunteered to go with the pirates in a ship's lifeboat in exchange for the crew's safety, Gortney said.

"The actions of Captain Phillips and the civilian mariners of Maersk-Alabama were heroic. They fought back to regain control of their ship, and Captain Phillips selflessly put his life in the hands of these armed criminals in order to protect his crew," he said in a statement.

MORE VIOLENCE FEARED

Friends of the pirates told Reuters they wanted $2 million.

Andrew Mwangura, coordinator of the Mombasa-based East African Seafarers Assistance Program, said the rescue would change the stakes in future pirate attacks.

"This is a big wake-up to the pirates. It raises the stakes. Now they may be more violent, like the pirates of old," he said.

Eyl local elder Ismail Haji Ahmed told Reuters by phone from the coastal village, a notorious pirate base, "Roaring helicopters terrified us so much that no one slept last night."

The saga has drawn world attention to the long-running piracy problem off Somalia that has pushed up shipping insurance costs and disrupted international trade.

Andrew Mwangura, coordinator of Mombasa-based East African Seafarers Assistance Program, said the rescue would change the stakes in future pirate attacks.

"This is a big wake-up to the pirates. It raises the stakes. Now they may be more violent, like the pirates of old," he said.

So far, pirates have generally treated hostages well, sometimes roasting goat meat for them and even passing phones round so they can call loved ones. The worst violence reported has been the occasional beating and no hostages are known to have been killed by pirates.

"This could escalate violence in this part of the world -- no question about it," said Gortney.

The U.S. Justice Department said in a statement it "will be reviewing the evidence and other issues to determine whether to seek prosecution in the United States."