Incident Summary:
12/23/2006: Members of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) attacked the crippled Jordanian cargo ship "Farah III" off the coast of Mullaitivu, Sri Lanka, around 3:00am. The 25-member crew was kidnapped, and the communications and radar equipment were removed from the ship, which was abandoned as it was immovable. Two days later, on December 25th, the crew were handed over to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). There was one person, the ship's second officer, who was injured in the attack.
Overview
GTD ID:
200612230003
When:
2006-12-23
Country:
Sri Lanka
Region:
South Asia
Province/administrative
region/u.s. state:
Northern
City:
Near Mullaitivu
Location Details:
A cargo ship off the coast of Mullaitivu district
What
Attack Information
Type of Attack () |
Hijacking |
Type of Attack () |
Hostage Taking (Kidnapping) |
Successful Attack? () |
Yes |
Target Information ()
Target Type: Maritime |
Name of Entity |
Jordanian merchant vessel |
Specific Description |
Farah III and crew |
Nationality of Target |
Jordan |
Additional Information
Hostages |
Yes |
Number of Hostages |
25 |
US Hostages |
0 |
Days of Kidnapping |
2 |
Outcome |
Hostage(s) released by perpetrators |
Ransom |
No |
Property Damage |
Yes |
Extent of Property Damage |
Major (likely > $1 million but < $1 billion) |
Value of Property Damage |
$10,000,000.00 |
How
Weapon Information
Type |
Sub-type |
Firearms |
Unknown Gun Type |
Explosives |
Unknown Explosive Type |
Weapon Details |
LTTE members in six boats attacked the shipping vessel, firing guns into the air as they boarded the vessel. They also tried to blow up the anchor cable for the Farah III, but could not do so. There were at least six rebels involved in this attack. As the ship was broken down before the attack and waiting for aid, the LTTE were forced to leave it behind. |
Additional Information
Suicide Attack? | No |
Part of Multiple Incident? | No |
Criterion 1 () |
Yes |
Criterion 2 () |
Yes |
Criterion 3 () |
Yes |
Doubt Terrorism Proper () |
No |
Additional Information |
This was an attempted hijacking, but the ship was broken down (it had engine trouble) and waiting for help from the Sri Lankan Navy 17 miles off the coast, so when the LTTE attacked, they were forced to leave the shipping vessel behind. Mullaitivu was a rebel-held area. The Jordanian ship had a 25-member crew from Jordan and Egypt, and was carrying 14,000 tons of rice from Kakinada, an Indian port to Durban, South Africa. The Captain's name was R. Abdullah, an Iraqi national. The ship was managed by the Amman-based Arab Shipping Company. The rebels took the 25-member crew off the vessel and put them in the 6 small speed boats they arrived in. Shareef Mohamed Mustafa (30), the ship's Egyptian second officer, was injured in the boat ride after the rebels took them off the ship. The 25-member crew was returned to the Red Cross 2 days later around 10:00am. The LTTE website, TamilNet, had pictures of the hostages, which the LTTE said showed they were safe. |
Who
Perpetrator Statistics
Number of Perpetrators |
6 |
Number of Captured Perpetrators |
0 |
Casualty Information
Total Number of Casualties |
0 Fatalities / 1 Injured |
Total Number of Fatalities |
0 |
Number of U.S. Fatalities |
0 |
Number of Perpetrator Fatalities |
0 |
Total Number of Injured |
1 |
Number of U.S. Injured |
0 |
Number of Perpetrators Injured |
0 |
Sources
Sources
A.J., "Jordanian ship under pirate attack in Sri Lanka: military," Agence France-Presse, December 23, 2006. |
"Sri Lanka Tamil rebels release ship crew to red cross," Xinhua News Agency, December 25, 2006. |
"Jordanian ship's crew accuse Tigers of 'piracy,'" Agence France-Presse, December 26, 2006. |
Criteria
Criteria 1
The act must be aimed at attaining a political, economic, religious, or social goal. In terms of economic goals, the exclusive pursuit of profit does not satisfy this criterion. It must involve the pursuit of more profound, systemic economic change.
Criterion 2
There must be evidence of an intention to coerce, intimidate, or convey some other message to a larger audience (or audiences) than the immediate victims. It is the act taken as a totality that is considered, irrespective if every individual involved in carrying out the act was aware of this intention. As long as any of the planners or decision-makers behind the attack intended to coerce, intimidate or publicize, the intentionality criterion is met.
Criterion 3
The action must be outside the context of legitimate warfare activities. That is, the act must be outside the parameters permitted by international humanitarian law (particularly the prohibition against deliberately targeting civilians or non-combatants.
Doubt Terrorism Proper
The existence of a "Yes" for "Doubt Terrorism Proper?" records reservation, in the eyes of GTD analysts, that the incident in question is truly terrorism. Such uncertainty, however, was not deemed to be sufficient to disqualify the incident from inclusion into the GTD. Furthermore, such a determination of doubt is subsequently coded by GTD analysts as conforming to one of four possible alternative designations: 1) Insurgency/Guerilla Action; 2) Internecine Conflict Action; 3) Mass Murder; or 4) Purely Criminal Act.
Alternate Designation
The determination of "yes" for "Doubt Terrorism Proper" by GTD analysts is coded as conforming to one of four possible alternative designations: 1) Insurgency/Guerilla Action; 2) Internecine Conflict Action; 3) Mass Murder; or 4) Purely Criminal Act.
Successful Attack
Success of a terrorist strike is defined according to the tangible effects of the attack. For example, in a typical successful bombing, the bomb detonates and destroys property and/or kills individuals, whereas an unsuccessful bombing is one in which the bomb is discovered and defused or detonates early and kills the perpetrators. Success is not judged in terms of the larger goals of the perpetrators. For example, a bomb that exploded in a building would be counted as a success even if it did not, for example, succeed in bringing the building down or inducing government repression.
Type of Attack
This field captures the general method of attack and often reflects the broad class of tactics used. It consists of the following nine categories:
- Assassination
- Armed Assault
- Unarmed Assault
- Bombing/Explosion
- Hijacking
- Hostage taking (Barricade Incident)
- Hostage taking (Kidnapping)
- Facility / Infrastructure Attack
- Unknown
Target Information
This field captures the general type of target. It consists of the following 22 categories:
- Abortion Related
- Airports & Airlines
- Business
- Government (General)
- Government (Diplomatic)
- Educational Institution
- Food or Water Supply
- Journalists & Media
- Maritime (includes Ports and Maritime facilities)
- Military
- NGO
- Other
- Police
- Private Citizens & Property
- Religious Figures/Institutions
- Telecommunication
- Terrorists
- Tourists
- Transportation (other than aviation)
- Unknown
- Utilities
- Violent Political Parties