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Update: Rival Somali groups fighting over British couple being held hostage
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Paul and Rachel Chandler Photo/AP
MOGADISHU, Somalia - Rival pirates and militia groups are fighting for control over hostages who have been held captive for more than a week.
It was on Oct. 23, when Paul and Rachel Chandler sent out a distress signal when they were sailing on their way to Tanzania.
The British navy reported finding their empty yacht on Oct. 29 and the couple has been in sporadic contact with the British media since
On Oct. 30, Somali pirates called a broadcaster at the British Broadcasting Corporation demanding $7 million for the release of the British couple.
Some of the pirates holding the couple decided to take the couple to an extremist Islamic group, said a commander of a rival moderate Islamic militia who gave his name only as Ilka'ase.
"We did not want the pirates to use our territory to hold hostages or hand them over to another group. We took up arms with the help of (the moderate Islamic group) Ahlu Sunna Waljama and opposed" the other group, said Hussein Mohamed Kahiye, a clan elder in the central Somali village of Bahdo.
The couple had been held on a ship at sea, but Kahiye said the couple were now in the coastal areas and traveling in two minibuses and an all-terrain vehicle.
Multimillion dollar ransoms are a strong lure for gunmen in a country where nearly half the population is dependent on aid.
A total of 306 attacks were reported between January and September, surpassing the 293 incidents recorded throughout 2008, according to a statement released by the International Maritime Bureau's piracy reporting center in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
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