Somali Islamists vow to end piracy, pirates flee with ships

[FarCenter]

AFP - A hardline Islamist militia vowed Monday to end piracy in Somalia by imposing sharia law, after seizing control of a notorious nest of pirates and forcing them to flee.

The pirates abandoned the port of Harardhere and sailed three recently-captured vessels off towards another base, a day after the Hezb al-Islam militia took over the town in northern Somalia.

"From now on Harardhere is one of the Somali towns where Islamic sharia will be implemented," Sheik Ahmed Abu Yahya, a senior Hezb al-Islam commander, told AFP by phone.

"There will be no piracy or any kind of robbery here. From now on people will obey Islamic law," he said, adding: "Our presence here will change the image of this town which the bandits destroyed."

Harardhere was one of the main hideouts for the pirate gangs that have turned the waters off Somalia into a danger zone for foreign vessels, which they capture exclusively for ransom.

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