Bartamaha (Nairobi):- Last year, we had a lot of coverage on the role of the Navy SEALs in the rescue of an American captain who was held hostage off the coast of Somalia. The U.S. Navy, however, is just one of various foreign navies that patrol the waters off Somalia in order to protect passing ships from pirate attacks.
The Gulf of Aden is considered as the quickest route for the thousands of vessels that travel from Asia to Europe and the Americas each year, as it links the Indian Ocean with the Suez Canal and the Mediterranean Sea.
The prevention of a pirate attack is definitely more desirable than having to organize a rescue, and that is exactly what the Turkish Navy was able to do over the weekend, according to a report onPressTV.com. The World Bulletindescribed the team as “Turkish Navy Seals,” although we have no confirmation whether the Turkish Navy does have an elite team that can be considered as SEAL counterparts.
At any rate, SEALs or not, Sailors aboard the Turkish frigate TCG Gemlik were able to intercept and seize a boat that had on board pirates who were about to attack a vessel named M/V APL Finland. The operation “involved a helicopter and navy commandoes” and led to the capture of seven pirates. The source of the information was the state-run Turkish news agency Anatolia.
The TCG Gemlik was said to be on “an international mission to combat piracy in the Gulf of Aden.” The vessel sailed from the Aksaz naval base in Turkey February 1st, part of a UN-led force that aims to “prevent pirates from hijacking foreign ships off the coast of Somalia.”
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Source: USNavySeals

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