WASHINGTON - When the two pirate leaders boarded the destroyer USS Sterett off the coast of Somalia on Monday, U.S. officials thought they were headed for a breakthrough in the four-day standoff with a seafaring gang that had seized four Americans on their 58-foot yacht.
But an FBI hostage-rescue negotiator aboard the Sterett came to believe that the two Somalis were not serious. So the Americans put them in the brig and told the pirates still on the yacht to send over someone they could do business with.
What happened next is sharply contested and raises questions about the crucial decision to detain the pirate leaders.
U.S. officials said the pirates on the yacht, called the Quest, seemed relieved -- even "exceptionally calm" -- when told their senior commander was in the brig. But hours later, panic ensued among the young pirates and shots were fired.
Some Americans theorized afterward that a fight might have broken out among out the gang members, suddenly leaderless, and fearing they were about to be overtaken by the four Navy warships that surrounded them. One person who has talked to associates of the pirates said their leader had told them that if he did not return, they should kill the hostages, although U.S. officials say they do not know that to be the case.
The death of the four Americans -- Jean and Scott Adam of Marina Del Rey, Calif., and Phyllis Macay and Robert Riggle of Seattle -- is certain to add momentum to a wide-ranging review by the Obama administration on how to combat the growing threat from bands of Somali pirates.
The 15 surviving pirates in the latest incident were being held Wednesday on the aircraft carrier Enterprise while military and FBI officials decided their next move. The Somalis could face trials in the United States.
NEW YORK TIMES
