Somali pirates free Panama-flagged ship

MOGADISHU, Feb. 9 (Xinhua) -- Somali pirates on Tuesday released a Panama-flagged cargo ship with 26 crews after receiving more than three million dollars in ransom, pirate sources said.

The cargo vessel, the Al Khalil, was seized late last October as it plied in the Indian Ocean with a crew of 26, mostly Indian nationals.

"I know that the money, more than three million U.S. dollars, was dropped onto the ship and that almost all the men left the ship which is now ready to leave the shore," Muse Hagar, a pirate commander in the pirate stronghold of Harardhere, told Xinhua.

Sources in the central Somali town said negotiations between ship owners and the pirates had been "difficult" leading to the long time of captivity of the ship and the crew on board.

Residents in the area said men with bags stuffed with U.S. dollars have been seen leaving speedboats on the shores of the town where the vessel has been moored.

Piracy is rife in the Indian Ocean and the Gulf of Aden off the war-torn East African nation of Somalia despite the presence of several fleets of naval forces patrolling the waters off Somalia .

A dozen ships with hundreds of crew on board are believed to be still in pirate hands waiting for ransom payment.