European Fighter Jets Reportedly Strike Somali Pirate Base

European military fighter jets have been reportedly launched an airstrike earlier this week in northern Somalia in a suspected attack on a pirate base, AFP reported, citing a coastguard official and several witnesses. EU Naval Force’s counter piracy mission., however, did not give any comment on who was behind the strikes.

AFP says the aircraft struck near the north-eastern coastal village of Gumah, which lies some 220 kilometres (140 miles) east of Bossaso, the main port of Somalia’s breakaway Puntland state.  Two civilian’s were killed in the attacks.

The European Union confirmed its intention to extend its EU Naval Force’s (EUNAVFOR) counter-piracy mission, Operation ATALANTA, to “include Somalia’s coastal territory and internal waters”, indicating the pursuit of pirates by EUNAVFOR for the first time on land, or at least on the beach.