Murder of 4 American Hostages By Somalian Pirates May Have Been Averted

A new report claims that the murder of 4 American hostages off the coast of Oman may have been averted if the situation would have been handled differently.

Tragic news.
The murder of the 4 American hostages could have been averted.
The Daily Mail reported:

The killing of four American hostages on board their yacht may have been sparked by the U.S. Navy’s decision to detain two of the pirates who had come to negotiate with them, it emerged today.

Jean and Scott Adam, from California, and Phyllis Macay and Robert Riggle, from Seattle, were shot aboard the Quest off the coast of Oman, East Africa, on Tuesday.

A day earlier, two Somali pirates had boarded the U.S.S. Sterett stationed 600 yards away from the yacht to talk face-to-face, and American officials thought a breakthrough with the gang was imminent.

But an FBI hostage negotiator came to believe the two pirates were not serious, according to The New York Times.

The men were taken into custody and the Navy told the pirates who were on the yacht to send over someone they could do business with, a military source told the newspaper.

American officials have insisted the pirates on board the Sterett called those on the Quest, who seemed relieved that their leader was cooling off on the Navy warship.

But within hours, panic had apparently erupted among the pirates on board the Quest.

It is believed that, without a leader – and fearing they were about to be overtaken by the four Navy warships that surrounded them – they began to fight among themselves.

A rocket-propelled grenade was fired at the Sterett, the Navy said, and gunfire erupted on the yacht.

A pirate source quoted by the newspaper said their leader had told them that if he did not return, they should kill the hostages. American officials say they do not know that to be the case.

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Jim Hoft is the founder and editor of The Gateway Pundit, one of the top conservative news outlets in America. Jim was awarded the Reed Irvine Accuracy in Media Award in 2013 and is the proud recipient of the Breitbart Award for Excellence in Online Journalism from the Americans for Prosperity Foundation in May 2016. In 2023, The Gateway Pundit received the Most Trusted Print Media Award at the American Liberty Awards.

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