Somali pirates killed five crew members on hijacked tanker, officials say

What the report says

Somali authorities say pirates killed five crew members aboard the MT Honour 25, a Palau-flagged oil tanker seized off the coast of Somalia on April 21. The deaths, announced on Tuesday, appear to be the first linked to Somali piracy in more than a decade, according to the article. The tanker was carrying 18,500 barrels of oil when it was taken.

Officials in Puntland, the semiautonomous Somali region, said a rescue operation later freed the vessel and led to the capture of 16 suspected pirates. The regional information ministry said the five people killed were three Pakistanis, one Myanmar national and one Indian national. It also said four other crew members — three Pakistanis and one Indian — were injured. The Puntland Maritime Police Force said the ship was safe and back under government control, while efforts continued to identify other people involved in the hijacking.

The report places the attack in the context of a renewed period of piracy off Somalia. It notes that at least 15 attacks have been reported since April, and that piracy in the region previously surged from 2008 to 2014, disrupting global shipping and prompting costly ransom payments. Al Jazeera also linked the broader uptick in piracy to regional instability, though that wider explanation reflects expert analysis cited by the outlet rather than a separate official finding.