Private securityFirst: Private security guards shoot and kill a Somali pirate

Private security guards aboard a merchant ship sailing through the pirate-infested waters off Somalia shot dead one of several attackers trying to seize the vessel, the European Naval Force in the area said on Wednesday. The killing was thought to have been the first involving private contractors, the Naval Force said.

The New York Times’s Alan Cowell writes that the death could escalate the struggle between pirates and merchant shipping in the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean, where cargo ships increasingly carry private security operatives to repel assailants. Some maritime organizations believe the presence of armed contractors might persuade pirates to adopt more aggressive tactics. The death of the pirate also raised legal questions about the accountability of private security teams, a UN official said.

The episode happened early on Tuesday when the Almezaan, a Panamanian-flagged cargo ship heading for Mogadishu, came under attack from pirates using high-speed skiffs controlled by a mother ship, the British-based Naval Force said in a statement on its Web site. Twice, the pirates attacked the vessel and twice they were repulsed as a Spanish frigate, the Navarra, sped toward the scene, Cmdr. John Harbour, of Britain’s Royal Navy, the spokesman for the Naval Force, told Cowell in a telephone interview.

“Normally the private security firms fire warning shots” to repel pirates, he said. O this occasion, however, “the pirates came for a second time firing their guns and the security team fired back,” he said. Asked if the killing was the first by a private security team, he said: “I believe that is the case.”

A helicopter from the Navarra located the pirates and fired warning shots while a team from the Spanish frigate went aboard the pirate boat. In one pirate skiff, which was riddled with bullets, the boarding party found three live pirates and the body of a fourth who had been hit by small arms fire, Commander Harbour said.

Six pirates were arrested and their ships were sunk. The spokesman said he did not know the nationality of the private security team members.

The European Naval Force, which is supported by the United Nations, comprises units from Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Spain, and Sweden, under the command of British Rear Adm. Peter Hudson.

The AP reports that several pirates have died in encounters with international naval forces, but that Arvinder Sambei, a legal consultant for the UN’ anti-piracy program, said the role of private security operatives in the latest fatality “will be scrutinized very closely.” “There’s always been concern about these companies. Who are they responsible to? The bottom line is somebody has been killed and someone has to give an accounting of that,” she said.