Abandon ship, Indian Navy sounded the alert to pirates as its elite marine commandos arrived on the cargo ship, ‘MV Lila Norfolk’, that was hijacked late last evening near the coast of Somalia, military officials said on Friday.

The elite commandos, MARCOS, have sanitised the top deck of the cargo ship. The Navy headquarters are keeping a close watch on operations in high seas, say military officials

Around 15 Indian crew members are aboard the ship in the Arabian Sea.

The hijacking was reported by the UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO), a British military organisation that tracks movements of various vessels in strategic waterways.

The Indian crew on board are safe, military officials told news agency ANI.

Naval warship INS Chennai, a navy destroyer, that was diverted from its anti-piracy patrol, has launched its helicopter and issued warning to pirates to abandon the hijacked vessel.

Last month the Navy deployed several warships into the sea to “maintain a deterrent presence” after a string of recent shipping attacks, including a drone attack near India’s coast blamed on Iran by the United States.

The latest attack comes at a time when many vessels have been rerouted from the Red Sea, where Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels have carried out drone and missile attacks in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, where Israel is battling Hamas.

Last month a drone attack hit the MV Chem Pluto tanker 200 nautical miles (370 kilometres) off the coast of India.

The president of the Maldives, Mohamed Muizzu, will pay a state visit to China from Jan. 8 to 12, the Chinese foreign ministry said in statement on Friday, in what would be a high-profile snub to the island nation’s huge neighbour India.

Multiple calls by Reuters to the Foreign Ministry and President’s Office in Male on Friday – the weekend in the Maldives – to confirm the president’s trip went unanswered.

Muizzu, who in November took over as president of the Indian Ocean nation made up of more than a hundred islands dotted with luxury resorts, issued an election pledge to remove a small contingent of some 75 Indian military personnel in the country and alter the Maldives’s “India first” policy.

Asked to comment on Thursday about talk of President Muizzu making a state visit to China, New Delhi said the matter was out of its hands.

“It is for them to decide where they go and how they go about their international relations,” Indian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said, adding that he had no update on the removal of Indian military personnel from the islands.

While both New Delhi and Beijing are vying for influence in the region, Muizzu’s government is considered to be leaning towards China.

The Maldives owes China about $1.3 billion, according to the latest International Monetary Fund (IMF) data. China is the Maldives’ largest external creditor, accounting for about 20% of its total public debt.

“President Muizzu seems disinclined to continue engaging India. His actions seem directed at creating distance between Male and Delhi. He also seems keen on a close friendship with China, which should be concerning to India,” Abhijit Singh, head of the Maritime Policy Initiative at the Observer Research Foundation think tank in New Delhi said.

“The President’s trip to Beijing, before a visit to New Delhi, is a signal – as clear as any – that India is low on priority for this regime.”

Unlike most of his predecessors who have visited India first after being elected, Muizzu chose Turkey as his first international port of call. He later met Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the United Arab Emirates on the sidelines of COP28. The two countries have set-up a core group to discuss the withdrawal of Indian troops.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken spoke with Foreign Minister Zameer on Thursday, the State Department said in a statement.

“The Secretary reaffirmed the United States’ commitment to strengthening cooperation with Maldives, a key partner in a free, open, secure, and prosperous Indo-Pacific region,” it said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Giving chilling details about the attack on its officers, allegedly by supporters of a Trinamool Congress leader, the Enforcement Directorate has said the mob consisted of 800-1,000 people and that there was an “intention to cause death”.

The agency said three of its officials were severely injured and that people in the mob robbed its personnel of their belongings, including mobile phones, wallets and laptops. 

The attack occurred in Sandeshkhali in West Bengal’s North 24 Parganas district on Friday, when an Enforcement Directorate team – accompanied by personnel from the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) – was carrying out searches at three premises belonging to Trinamool leader Sahajahan Sheikh in connection with the alleged Public Distribution Scam. 

While the Trinamool Congress called the incident “a BJP conspiracy” and claimed “unruly elements attached with the central agencies provoked locals”, the BJP has dubbed the continuance of the ruling party’s government in the state “a threat to national security.”

In a statement posted on X, the Enforcement Directorate called Sheikh a convenor of the Trinamool Congress and said, “On one of the premises, the Enforcement Directorate team with CRPF personnel was attacked by 800-1000 people with an intention to cause death as these people were carrying weapons such as lathis, stones & bricks.”

“In this incident, three ED officials have been grievously injured. Injured ED officials are being admitted to hospital for treatment. Violent mob also snatched/robbed/stole personal/official belongings of ED officials such as their mobile phones, laptop, cash, wallets, etc. and badly damaged some of the ED vehicles (sic),” the statement said. 

The agency said Sheikh refused to unlock the door and while the team was trying to get it open, the mob gathered within half an hour. It alleged that stones were also thrown at the personnel. 

“Other officers had to escape from the place of the incident without conducting search to save their lives as the mob became very violent and even chased the officials so as to deter the officials from performing their official duty,” it added.

‘Diabolical Move’

The Trinamool Congress called the incident BJP’s “diabolical move of deflecting attention from its own crimes by triggering law and disorder issues”. 

Calling the incident a BJP conspiracy, Trinamool Congress leader Shashi Panja said, “We have heard that the locals of the area were provoked and, consequently, they retaliated. We have repeatedly said that we do not support any violence. We have no issues with any investigation but some people are deliberately trying to create a ‘law and disorder’. They are deliberately trying to frame a situation to defame Bengal.”

Taking aim at Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari, who is the leader of the opposition in West Bengal, posted on X, “Due to Mamata Banerjee’s assurance and encouragement, criminals like Sheikh Shahjahan have assembled Rohingya to work as his henchmen and establish a reign of terror.”  

Bengal Governor CV Ananda Bose also condemned the attack and said, “It is a ghastly incident. It is alarming and deplorable. It is the duty of a civilised government to stop barbarism and vandalism in a democracy. If a government fails in its basic duty, then the Constitution of India will take its course.”