Somali pirates release hijacked ship - Somali marine force, pirates

Somali pirates released a hijacked oil tanker and its eight Sri Lankan crew on Thursday, a Somali security official and the pirates said, bringing the first hijacking since 2012 to an unusually swift conclusion without the payment of a ransom. "There has been discussion going on after the gunfight of this afternoon ... We took our forces back and thus the pirates went away," said Abdirahman Mohamud Hassan, the director general of the Puntland maritime police force.

A pirate confirmed the release was made without a ransom payment.

(This article has not been edited by DNA's editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)