'Flawless': U.S. Navy snipers killed three Somali pirates with just three shots... in the dark, from the deck of a rolling ship



Even for a Hollywood film, it sounds like an impossible shot.

In the dark, from the deck of a rolling ship, U.S. Navy snipers had to take aim into a covered lifeboat 75ft away that was also pitching in the choppy seas.

They needed to kill three Somali pirates - one of whom was inside the pilot house of the lifeboat - and they needed to do it simultaneously to save the life of hostage captain Richard Phillips.

Captain Richard Phillips (R) shakes hands with Frank Castellano, commanding officer of USS Bainbridge after being rescued by off the coast of Somalia

And succeed they did. A fourth pirate was then captured after being injured. He faces a life sentence in an American prison.

Vice-Admiral William Gortney, head of the U.S. Navy in the region, said the marksmen pulled off 'phenomenal shots' from 75ft away.

Barack Obama had given his approval for the Navy to use lethal force to free captain Richard Phillips, who had spent five days as the prisoner of the heavily armed mercenaries.

See how the SEALS pulled off the miracle shots here

Embedded video from CNN Video





Vice-Admiral Gortney said the order to shoot came after the pirates were spotted 'with their heads and shoulders exposed' in the lifeboat where they were holding Captain Phillips.

One of the Somalis had his AK-47 machine gun trained on the captain's back. But when all three pirates' heads popped out of the top of the covered lifeboat, the snipers fired simultaneously.

Captain Phillips, 53, who had his hands tied and was standing up at the time of the shooting, was unharmed.

A U.S. Navy image taken by the Scan Eagle UAV and a Navy P-3C Orion of the USS Bainbridgel near the lifeboat during the hostage situation in the Indian Ocean on April 9, 2009



A U.S. Navy image of the lifeboat itself on April 9. Captain Richard Phillips was being held hostage on the boat at the time. He was released yesterday after U.S. snipers killed three of his pirate captors

Fellow pirates vowed retaliation over the deaths yesterday, raising fears for the safety of around 230 foreign sailors still being held hostage on more than a dozen captured ships anchored in the Indian Ocean off lawless Somalia.

'From now on, if we capture foreign ships and their respective countries try to attack us, we will kill the hostages,' said Jamac Habeb, a Somali pirate leader, last night. 'The U.S. have become our number one enemy.'

But in a sharp warning to the increasingly brazen pirates, Mr Obama said: 'I want to be very clear that we are resolved to halt the rise of piracy in that region.

'We have to continue to be prepared to confront them when they arise and we have to ensure that those who commit acts of piracy are held accountable for their crimes.'

On the freeing of Captain Phillips, he added: 'I'm very proud of the efforts of the U.S. military and many other departments and agencies that worked tirelessly to resolve this situation.'

Pentagon officials confirmed that they are now considering attacks on pirate bases in Somalia.

The U.S. could also send food and aid to help people in the country, which has been torn apart by civil war.



