MOGADISHU: Unidentified gunmen in northeastern Somalia unsuccessfully tried to hijack a local commercial plane with two German journalists on board, officials said on Tuesday.

Two men armed with two pistols, who somehow managed to evade security screening in Bossaso, commercial capital of Puntland, northeastern Somalia, attempted to enter the cockpit during flight from the port city to neighboring Djibouti, but were prevented by flight attendants and passengers, said Muse Gele, governor of the Bari region in Puntland.

The hijackers demanded that they be flown to the pirate stronghold town of Las Qoray, 220 km west of Bossaso, but were instead returned to the commercial port city, where they were overpowered by local police who wounded one of them and arrested both.

The hijacking was aimed at kidnapping the two Germans on board the plane in the hope of exchanging them for local pirates arrested by NATO forces patrolling the pirate-infested Indian Ocean and the Gulf of Aden off Somalia, Gelle said.

كان الهدف هو خطف الصحفيين الألمانيين ومقايضتهما بقراصنة  أعتقلوا من بل  قوات الناتو التي تحرس المحيط الهندي وخليج عدن الموبو ئين بالقراصنة كما صرح جيله محافظ منطقة باري من إقليم بونتلاند الإنفصالي.

The aircraft from the local Daallo Airlines resumed its flight to Djibouti after the end of the ordeal.

A local fixer working for the two German journalists was briefly detained before cleared of any involvement in the attempted kidnapping of the German reporters.

Foreign journalists often come to the region, a hotbed for the rampant piracy off Somalia, to cover the menace, but some end up in the hands of kidnappers who demand ransom for their release.

=============

خطف زوجين بريطانيين على يختهما من قبل قراصنة صوماليين وطلبوا فدية،ولكن آخر خبر هو أنه ستتم مقايضتهما بصوماليين أسرا من قبل أالمانيا.

Brave British couple kidnapped by Somali pirates tell of the terrifying moment they were hijacked

By Wil Longbottom and Michael Seamark
Last updated at 11:23 AM on 30th October 2009

Kidnapped British yachtsman Paul Chandler yesterday relived the moment when armed Somali pirates brought his round-the-world trip to a terrifying halt.

In a brief phone call, permitted by his captors, he told how he and wife Rachel were on the Indian Ocean in pitch darkness when gunmen hijacked their craft.

'Three boats came alongside,' he said. 'I was asleep and men with guns came aboard.'

صورة الزوجين المختطفين وهما من جنوب إنجلترا لا يمتلكان سوى اليخت،وليسا أثرياء

The terrified couple, from Tunbridge Wells, were then forced at gunpoint to divert from their planned voyage from the Seychelles to Tanzania and head towards lawless Somalia.

The conversation with Mr Chandler, the first contact since the couple disappeared six days ago, came after Somalian pirates made contact with ITV News.

The call was made from a hijacked container ship anchored a mile off the Somali coastline.

But shortly afterwards fishermen reported seeing eight pirates and the couple landing ashore amid a hail of gunfire into the sky.

The pirates have already threatened to 'burn the bones' of the Chandlers if any attempt is made to rescue them.

وههد القراصنة بحرق عظام الرهينتين لو حاول الغرب إطلاق ساحهما بالقوة

A meeting of Cobra, the Whitehall emergency committee, was called to discuss how to free the couple as Gordon Brown appealed for their release.

إجتمعت وة الكوبرا البريطانية للتدخل السريع لمناقشة حالتهما بينما أطلق  جوردون براون نداء لإطلاق سراحهما بينما هو في بروكيل.

The Prime Minister, speaking in Brussels following the EU summit, said: 'Piracy and the taking of hostages is unacceptable in any circumstances.

'We call on those people who have taken the British citizens hostage to release them as soon as possible. They should abide by international law.'

Early yesterday Royal Navy forces patrolling the pirate-infested waters off Somalia found the Chandlers' 38ft yacht, the Lynn Rival, abandoned in international waters.

By then the Chandlers had been transferred to the 24,000-ton Singapore-flagged container ship Kota Wajar, which was seized with its crew of 21 on October 15 as it headed for Mombasa.

A pirate called Hassan, in a phone call from the pirates' haven of Haradheere, told an international news agency: 'After we understood the British Navy might attack us, we

took the hostages off the yacht into the Singaporean ship to bring them safely here. They are exhausted and need rest.'

After pirates contacted ITV News yesterday morning, the station's Angus Walker was able to interview 59-year-old Mr Chandler, who said he was speaking from the captain's cabin aboard the Kota Wajar.

Walker began with a message from Mrs Chandler's brother Stephen Collett. 'Stephen says everyone here is fine, we are all thinking of you and just hope you are both well - can't wait to speak to you and see you,' said Walker.

The kidnapped yachtsman, a retired quantity surveyor replied: 'Well, that's awfully nice,' and laughed.

He went on to say the couple's captors had not asked for a ransom. 'Not officially - they kept asking for money and took everything of value on the boat.'

Mr Chandler was asked how he was being treated but the telephone link was lost before he could answer. Mr

Collett confirmed it was his brother-in-law's voice.

Soon after the phone call, the reports emerged that Mr Chandler and his 55-year-old wife, an economist, had finally arrived ashore in Somalia.

Two boats carrying eight pirates and the couple arrived in the village of Ceel Huur, just north of Haradheere, around dawn, said fisherman Dahir Dabadhahan.

They were met by around 30 other pirates, in a convoy of six luxury vehicles, on the shore in front of fishermen preparing their boats for the day.

'The pirates opened fire into the air, waving us to move away,' he said.

Mr Collett told ITV News: 'We are very pleased to hear from them.'

On whether a ransom would be paid, he said: 'We are concerned the pirates will think because they own a yacht they are mega-wealthy, but all their money has gone into their yacht.'

:شاهد الفيديوvideo
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1223750/Paul-Rachel-Chandler-tell-terrifying-moment-kidnapped-Somali-pirates.html#ixzz0VsPf2USI