Dutch commandos rescue hostages, new vessel seized

Dutch commandos have freed 20 hostages who had been forced to sail a pirate "mother ship" that was targeting commercial shipping in the Gulf of Aden, NATO officials said. Meanwhile, pirates seized a Belgian ship and its 10-member crew. Dutch commandos freed 20 Yemeni hostages on Saturday and briefly detained seven pirates who had forced their captives to sail a "mother ship" attacking vessels in the Gulf of Aden, NATO officials said. Meanwhile, pirates seized a Belgian-registered ship and its 10-member crew, including two Belgians, further south in the Indian Ocean. A pirate source said the vessel, the Pompei, would be taken to the coast. Sea gangs from Somalia have captured dozens of ships, taken hundreds of sailors prisoner and made off with millions of  dollars in ransoms despite an unprecedented deployment by foreign militaries off the Horn of Africa. NATO Lieutenant Commander Alexandre Fernandes, speaking on board the Portuguese warship Corte-Real, said the 20 fishermen were rescued after a Dutch navy frigate on a NATO patrol responded to an assault on a Greek-managed tanker by pirates firing assault rifles and grenades.The Dutch ship, the HNLMS De Zeven Provincien, chased the pirates, who were on a small skiff, back to their "mother ship" -- a hijacked Yemeni fishing dhow.