As of late, pirates have become a bigger problem among cargo and freighter ships along the  path of the Gulf of Aden, off the coast of Africa. 20,000 merchant ships a year use the gulf to reach Europe and Asia. The pirates are fighters of Somali warlords who have fought for control of the country since the collapse of the Siad Barre government in 1991, but they mostly work for their survival. The gulf, at 1,900 miles long, makes it easier for the Somali African pirates to hijack the defenseless cargo ships in their smaller, armed speed boats.

Sea attacks worldwide nearly doubled inthe first three months of 2009, mainly due to increased pirate raids on vessels in the Gulf of Aden and the east coast of Somalia, an international maritime watchdog said recently, according to the Associated Press. The International Maritime Bureau's reporting center in Kuala Lumpur stated that the number of pirate attacks marked a 20 percent increase from the previous quarter. The number attacks went from 53 attacks during the first quarter of 2008 to 102 during the first quarter of this year.

            On  April 13, NBC News and other news services reported U.S. Navy SEAL snipers killed three Somali pirates then rescued American sea captain Richard Phillips, who had been held captive for five days after offering himself as a hostage in order to save his crew.                       

            But the pirate attacks aren't just focused on cargo ships. There have been other attacks on cruise ships  such as the MSC Melody. On April 26, the Melody was attacked 650 miles off the coast of Somalia. When the pirates tried to board the ship they were counter attacked by passengers throwing deck chairs at them and an armed crew along Israeli security guards that were aboard the ship, according to Fox News. No one was hurt.

About 20 warships from navies of 12 different countries are involved in the anti-piracy operations off the coast of Somalia. According to the United Nations, Somali pirates carried out at least 120 attacks on ships in 2008, resulting in combined ransom payouts of around $150 million, reported Novosti.