China navy halts pirate attack off Somalia

A Chinese naval patrol rescued an Italian merchant ship from a pirate attack in the waters off Somalia, China's official Xinhua news agency reported on Thursday.

A Chinese destroyer, Haikou, was escorting a fleet of ships in the Gulf of Aden on Feb. 24 when an Italian boat suffered an engine failure and was attacked. Haikou dispatched three special operations troops in a helicopter, which flew directly above the Italian boat and fired two warning shots to scare the pirates away, the report said. (Reuters)