**Concern is growing for 350 hostages held by Somali pirates after Islamist insurgents seized one of their bases.**Many pirates have reportedly withdrawn from the coastal town of Haradhere but it is not clear what they have done with their captives.
Among those held are a British couple, the Chandlers, who were seized in 2009.
BBC East Africa correspondent Will Ross says complicated ransom negotiations risk being undermined by a possible turf war.
Residents said several hundred insurgents from the Hizbul-Islam group took control of Haradhere over the weekend.
Hizbul-Islam wants to establish Sharia law in Somalia and put an end to the pirate trade in the town, the leader of the insurgents told the BBC.
But our correspondent says there are reports that this same militant group had earlier tried to strike a deal with the pirates to try to get a share of the profits.
Our correspondent says the shipping industry will watch the group’s next moves very closely to get an idea of whether the vital shipping lanes look set to become safer or more dangerous.
Pirates have seized dozens of ships in the Indian Ocean in recent years, leading several nations to send warships to the area to protect commercial shipping.
Somalia has not had an effective government for nearly 20 years.
Our correspondent says the fate of more than 350 hostages currently being held by the pirates is precarious to say the least.
The pirates, divided into numerous different groups, are also holding about 20 ships in their various bases, such as Haradhere.
“The three vessels held there are in danger,” Andrew Mwangura, the head of the East African Seafarers’ Assistance Programme, told the AFP news agency.
AFP says these ship have a total of 60 crew, from countries including Myanmar and Kenya.
Hundreds of pirates could be seen leaving Haradhere in luxury cars hours before the insurgents moved in, local resident Suleyman Gadid told the BBC.
Hizbul-Islam and the hard-line Islamist group al-Shabab have a common agenda in fighting the UN-backed interim government and have previously shared control of the southern Somali port of Kismayo.
But the two groups fell out in 2009 and al-Shabab, which has links to al-Qaeda, ousted Hizbul-Islam from the lucrative harbour-town.
Since losing Kismayo, the group has been keen to gain a foothold in Haradhere before al-Shabab moved in, says the BBC’s Mohammed Olad Hassan in Mogadishu.This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
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