(L to R): US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin; Defence Minister Rajnath Singh
Credit: Reuters, PTI Images
New Delhi: Days after the Indian Navy and Indian Air Force carried out a daring 40-hour long operation in the Arabian Sea, capturing 35 Somalian pirates and freeing 17 crew members of a commercial ship, the USA thanked India for the continued anti-piracy operations in one of the world’s busiest sea trade corridors.
“Defence Minister Rajnath Singh held a telephonic conversation with the US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin who appreciated the important role being played by the Indian Navy in conducting anti-piracy operations in the Indian Ocean Region,” a defence ministry spokesperson said here.
This comes in the wake of last week’s coordinated action by the armed forces to take control of MV Ruen – hijacked in December by the Somali pirates, who converted them into a mother ship – which is now being brought to India along with its 37,800 tonnes of cargo. The pirates will be tried as per the law.
The operation involved dropping of rubber boats and marine commandos near MV Ruen from an IAF C-17 aircraft following which the commandos boarded the ship and forced the pirates to surrender. The air-drop happened after the pirates opened fire on INS Kolkata and shot down a naval UAV.
Sources said securing MV Ruen was critical as other commercial ships transiting through the area were not aware of the fact that the carrier had been converted into a mother ship by the pirates to launch their operations.
Since December, there has been an increase in the piracy attempts in the Arabian Sea after a gap of almost 7-8 years. This has happened because of the Red Sea crisis, forcing most of the naval vessels deployed in the area to turn their attention to trouble torn areas.
Singh and Austin, who met last time in November 2023 also discussed key issues on repair of US naval ships in Indian shipyards. They also reviewed the bilateral tri-service humanitarian assistance and disaster relief exercise Tiger Triumph that commenced at Visakhapatnam on Monday.
The US Navy ship USS Somerset and onboard troops from the Marine Corps will take part in the two-week long drill.
“The exercise is aimed at developing interoperability for conducting HADR operations and refine Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) to enable rapid and smooth coordination between forces of both countries,” said a navy official.