US Navy Confirms Suez Canal Shooting

[tekisui]

CAIRO, Egypt (AP) — An American cargo ship under contract to the U.S. Navy fired warning shots at a small Egyptian boat while passing through the Suez Canal, the U.S. military said Tuesday. Egyptian authorities said at least one man was killed, but the U.S. said an investigation was under way and it had no reports of casualties.

The Global Patriot, which was under short-term charter to the Navy's Military Sealift Command, entered the canal from the Red Sea at Suez after dark Monday when it was approached by several small boats, according to U.S. and Egyptian officials.

The U.S. Navy has been careful about the activities of small boats near their warships since the 2000 suicide attack by an explosives-packed motor boat on the USS Cole in Yemen killed 17 sailors.

A U.S. Navy security team aboard the Global Patriot fired the warning shots, said Lt. Nathan Christensen, deputy spokesman for the U.S. 5th Fleet, based in Bahrain.

"The boats were hailed and warned by a native Arabic speaker using a bullhorn to warn them to turn away. A warning flare was then fired," said a statement from the U.S. Embassy in Cairo. "One small boat continued to approach the ship and received two sets of warning shots 20-30 yards in front of the bow."

The statement added that "all shots were accounted for as they entered the water." It also said that "initial reports indicate that no casualties were sustained on either vessel."

The New York-based company that owns Global Patriot also said the reports they received indicated there were no injuries or casualties during the incident.

"The reports we have from the ship command were that there were some flares fired at the approaching small boats and ... there were no injuries or casualties to anyone whatsoever," said Hormoz Shayegan, vice president of Global Container Lines Limited. He said the crew of the vessel was unarmed.

An Egyptian security official at the canal, however, said that after the warning shots, a man was shot dead in the small boat and that the three other men with him were wounded.

The body of the man, Mohammed Fouad, was taken to a hospital morgue, then transferred to the Ibrahim Nafie mosque ahead of burial, the head of the union of seamen in Suez, Abbas al-Amrikani, told The Associated Press.

more at link: http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gxjGW6DPU3E5IPGPWPi3zQFFhcpQD8VKIUAO0

[wuushew]

1. Winning hearts and minds

n/t

[Squatch]

2. Yeah...I'm really going to trust the Egyptians on this one.

:sarcasm:

I can just see the "officials" in Egypt shooting up a dude named Fouad who died of natural causes days ago with an AK47 and passing him off as a "victim".

[tekisui]

3. You think so?

These cat and mouse games in Middle East waters scare the shit out of me.

What, in your opinion, do you think this is about?

[icymist]

4. The article in the Navy Times:

Navy-contracted ship opens fire in Suez

By Paul Schemm - The Associated Press
Posted : Tuesday Mar 25, 2008 13:37:48 EDT

CAIRO, Egypt — An American cargo ship under contract to the U.S. Navy fired warning shots at a small Egyptian boat while passing through the Suez Canal, the U.S. military said Tuesday. Egyptian authorities said at least one man was killed, but the U.S. said an investigation was under way and it had no reports of casualties.

The Global Patriot, which was under short-term charter to the Navy’s Military Sealift Command, entered the canal from the Red Sea at Suez after dark Monday when it was approached by several small boats, according to U.S. and Egyptian officials.

The U.S. Navy has been careful about the activities of small boats near their warships since the 2000 suicide attack by an explosives-packed motor boat on the destroyer Cole in Yemen killed 17 sailors.

A U.S. Navy security team aboard the Global Patriot fired the warning shots, said Lt. Nathan Christensen, deputy spokesman for the U.S. 5th Fleet, based in Bahrain.

“The boats were hailed and warned by a native Arabic speaker using a bullhorn to warn them to turn away. A warning flare was then fired,” said a statement from the U.S. Embassy in Cairo. “One small boat continued to approach the ship and received two sets of warning shots 20-30 yards in front of the bow.”

Read the article