Somali pirates kill 5 crew members before tanker rescue, state authorities say

Somali pirates killed five crew members of the hijacked MT Honour 25 petroleum products tanker before a rescue mission by Puntland security forces freed the ship and captured 16 pirates. The deaths are the first at the hands of Somali pirates in over a decade. Among those killed were three from Pakistan, one from Myanmar, and one from India. Four other crew members—three Pakistanis and one Indian—were injured. The Palau-flagged ship with 17 crew members was seized in April during a resurgence of Somali piracy that experts attribute in part to impacts of the Iran war, including elevated oil prices that make tankers more attractive targets. The rescue follows another mission last week when Puntland's maritime police freed the US-sanctioned tanker Sibu 1, hijacked in August. A previous wave of piracy from 2008 to 2014 disrupted one of the world's busiest shipping routes, costing the global economy billions of dollars and resulting in hundreds of millions in ransom payments.