'Three to four more pirate ships in Indian waters'

After sinking three pirate ships in the last two months, the Indian Navy on Tuesday said there may be three to four more such mother ships in the region. "There may be three to four more such mother ships of Somali pirates in the region and our ships and aircraft are already there on a look out for them," navy sources said in New Delhi.

In the last two months, India has sunk two mother ships of pirates besides capturing another along with 104 Somali pirates in its anti-piracy operations.

In the latest incident, Indian warship INS Kalpeni fought a gun battle in high seas against a pirate mother ship and sunk it, apart from capturing 61 pirates and rescuing 13 sailors, who were the original crew of the mother ship, identified as Vega-5 cargo vessel. The first operation was carried out on January 28 near Lakshadweep whereas the second was also in the same region on February 5.

On the Cabinet committee on security's approval for taking proactive action against suspected pirate vessels, the sources said there would be a graded response for the action to be taken by the navy while operating against such vessels.

"There would be a graded response to the different set of situations faced at sea during such actions including the nationality of the crew and the ship, the cargo being carried by it along with several other factors," they said.

The sources said the clearances for operations and the Rules of Engagements would come from different levels and "more complex the scenario, higher would be the level of sanction."

The cabinet secretary would be at the highest level of this chain of command for the sanctions and would include the Navy chief also.

Concerned over the frequent strikes by Somalian pirates, India has decided to get pro-active through deployment of more assets as part of a slew of medium and long-term steps to deal with the maritime brigands who are holding 53 Indians as hostages.