The pirates who hold a Saudi super-tanker have been urged to free the ship or face armed action by Somali Islamist fighters on Sunday. Sheikh Ahmed, a spokesman for the Shebab group in the coastal region of Harardhere, told AFP: "If the pirates want peace, they had better release the tanker.” The Sirius Star, a huge tanker carrying around 100 million dollars worth of crude oil, owned by Saudi Aramco, was hijacked by Somali pirates in the Indian Ocean on November the 15th. The pirates anchored the tanker off their base in Harardhere, demanding a ransom of 25 million dollars by November the 30th.

Islamist leaders have decided that piracy is a capital offence in Islam and officially condemned the surge in acts of piracy in Somalia’s waters. As for the pirates’ response, they said that they are not afraid of the Shebab’s threats. Mohamed Said told the AFP: "We are the Shebab of the sea and we can't be scared by the Shebab of the land.” Some residents in Harardhere have argues that the Shebab are divided over the issue of piracy and that some of the Islamist fighters have moved into the region only to claim a share of the ransom.

Meanwhile, the pirates in Somalia have released a Greek-owned ship that was hijacked two months ago. Greek officials have said that the tanker’s cargo of refined oil is intact and its 19 crew members are safe, but they did not mention if a ransom has been paid to the pirates in order to release the ship. In the past two weeks, Somali pirates have seized eight vessels, and international communities have called for joint action against piracy.