|
|
Sources have reported that Indian Navy has plans for deploying two warships near Mauritius and the Seychelles in the Indian Ocean for keeping a check on the Somali pirates.
According to Captain Manohar Nambiar, Chief PRO, Defence (Western Region), "We can confirm to you that the Indian Navy now has a presence in that region. We cannot speak much about operations there, but yes, our ships are into surveillance activities. This is apart from our ship already patrolling the Gulf of Aden."
The INS Tbara warship, which was deployed last year for fighting the Somali pirates, will be joined by INS Shardul and ICGS Varuna. While INS Shardul is an amphibious ship having 500-plus troops, the latter is an offshore patrol vehicle.
The deployment of warships is being undertaken in the wake of Somali pirates kidnapping over 100 Indian citizens in raids on the high seas.
