Somali pirates fight over ransom

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AFP) -- Somali pirates fought a fierce gunbattle Monday over the share-out of a multi-million dollar ransom within hours of the release of a Greek supertanker, witnesses said.

Machine-gun fire echoed across the coastal village of Harardhere and "there are dead bodies in the streets," one witness told AFP by telephone.

Harardhere resident Husein Warsame said the fighting had brought the village to a standstill: "There is no movement so far, the pirates are exchanging heavy machine gun fire inside the town and there are dead bodies in the streets."

Abdi Yare, a member of a pirate gang in the village, told AFP that two clans were disputing the ransom split.

"I have seen the body of one pirate and two injured so far but the casualties could be far higher than that," said another resident, Abdulahi Haji Mohamed.

Harardhere is a known pirate lair 186 miles north of the capital Mogadishu where the Greek supertanker, Maran Centaurus, was held before pirates released it earlier yesterday in exchange for a reported nine million dollars in ransom.

Seven million dollars was dropped onto the deck of the ship by plane while another two million was handed over via bank transfer, according to Ecoterra International, which monitors piracy in the Indian Ocean.

The 332-metre supertanker, with its multinational crew of 28, was on its way to the South African port of Durban. It was hijacked in the Indian Ocean on November 29.

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