Somali Islamists hunt the pirate hijackers of Saudi tanker

While the U.N. has been busy imposing sanctions against piracy, Somali Islamist fighters have taken irony to a whole new level and started what could be called a “grassroots” movement of their own to combat the problem…at least in this instance.

Al Jazeera reports here that Somali Islamists have entered the port town of Haradheere to search for and punish the pirates who hijacked the Muslim-owned Saudi oil tanker. These are the same pirates whom the Saudis have labeled as terrorists (which they aren’t, but nice try).

Analysts have commented that these fighters are part of the al Shabab radical Islamist movement and are reportedly opposed to the Somali interim government. Generally, these opposition fighters have benefited from the arms shipments and the violent chaos disrupting the country.

If so, then either these are pirates who aren’t affiliated with (but may ordinarily be tolerated by) the Islamist opposition fighters or the pirates are part of the Muslim opposition movement but have -knowingly or otherwise- attacked one of their fellow Muslims and, in doing so, broken some cardinal rule about doing so. What is certain is the high degree of hilarity resulting from this story.

CNN.com has reported here that over 150 million dollars has been paid in ransoms to pirates around the Horn of Africa over the past 12 months.

Update: U.S. authorities have expressed concern that the al Shabab Somali Islamists are in collusion with the pirates and are seeking to take part of any ransom gained.