Washington - A US-flagged cargo ship, The Liberty Sun, was attacked by Somali pirates Tuesday while bound for the Kenyan port of Mombasa, but managed to escape capture, CNN reported. Quoting a NATO source with direct knowledge of the incident, the US news network said the pirates fired on the cargo ship, which was carrying US food aid for Africa, but were unable to board.

Washington/Nairobi - A mortar was fired Monday at the plane of a US congressman as he was taking off from Somalia's capital, just one day after a US captain was rescued from the grip of pirates off the Somali coast. Donald Payne, who chairs a legislative subcommittee on Africa, was leaving Mogadishu after meeting with Somali officials and headed to Kenya.

Sana'a, Yemen - Somali pirates hijacked a Yemeni tanker ship carrying more than 2,000 tonnes of diesel in the Arabian Sea on Saturday, Yemen's Defence Ministry said.

The ship was en route from the Gulf of Aden to the south-eastern port of Nashtoon when the pirates attacked it and diverted it to the Somali coast, the ministry said in a brief statement posted on its website.

Copenhagen - The Danish navy responded Friday to a pirate attack on a freighter in the Gulf of Aden, a Royal Danish Navy spokesman said Saturday.

A freighter, registered in the Netherlands Antilles, reported it was being attacked by pirates, triggering a response from the navy.

Mogadishu - Dozens of trucks full of Ethiopian soldiers and their belongings left the Somali capital Mogadishu Friday, witnesses said, pointing to the beginning of a promised military pull-out.

Ethiopian forces invaded in late 2006 to help kick out the Islamic Courts Union (ICU) - a hardline Islamist regime that was in power for six months.

Sana'a, Yemen  - Somali pirates have released a second Yemeni fishing ship without ransom, more than two weeks after they hijacked the two ships in the Gulf of Aden, the commander of Yemen's coast guard force said in remarks published Friday.

Kuala Lumpur  - A Malaysian helicopter on Thursday foiled an attempt by a group of armed pirates to board an Indian oil tanker travelling in the troubled Gulf of Aden off Somalia's coast.

Mogadishu - Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed resigned Monday after failing to bring peace to the Horn of Africa nation, which has been wracked by conflict for the past 17 years.

Tokyo  - Japan is considering dispatching warships to the Gulf of Aden to join international efforts to combat piracy in the region, officials said Thursday.

Government spokesman Takeo Kawamura said the government may send a destroyer to the region off the Somali coast to prevent pirate attacks against Japanese ships.

Nairobi/Mogadishu - The man named prime minister by Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed in a controversial move last week resigned on Wednesday, saying his appointment was an impediment to peace.