U.S. navy stalks Somali pirates in hostage standoff

By Abdi Guled

MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Somali elders sought to mediate on Saturday between the U.S. navy and pirates holding an American hostage in a high-seas standoff that presents President Barack Obama with a nasty new dilemma.

Four pirates adrift in a lifeboat far out in the Indian Ocean with Richard Phillips, the 53-year-old American captain of a cargo ship they tried to seize on Wednesday, have demanded $2 million for his release and a guarantee of their own safety.

He is one of about 260 hostages now being held by the swelling numbers of pirates from lawless Somalia who prey on the busy sea lanes of the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean.

With three U.S. warships in the area, Somali elders and relatives of the pirates holding the Vermont father-of-two plan a mediation mission in the hope of avoiding bloodshed, said a regional organization that monitors piracy.

"They are just looking to arrange safe passage for the pirates, no ransom," said group coordinator Andrew Mwangura.

Pirates seized another vessel on Saturday, a U.S.-owned, Italian-flagged tugboat with 10 Italians and six others on board, NATO alliance officials on a warship in the region said.

Earlier, attackers fired a rocket-propelled grenade into the cabin of the commanding officer of another ship in the Gulf of Aden between Somalia and Yemen. They also fired bullets.

The grenade did not explode and the ship's crew managed to repel the attackers with water hoses, the NATO officials said.