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President Obama had authorized the use of force if Capt. Richard Phillips was believed to be in danger, so U.S. snipers fired when the pirates aimed an automatic rifle at their hostage.
AP - Navy Seal snipers on the fantail of a destroyer cut down three Somali pirates in a lifeboat and rescued an American sea captain on Easter Sunday. The surprise nighttime assault in choppy seas ended a five-day standoff between a team of rogue gunmen and the world's most powerful military.
AP - The U.S. military's moves to crack down on high seas piracy have done little to deter the epidemic of ship ransoms that preceded Sunday's Indian Ocean rescue, a top Navy official said Sunday.
AP - Thai soldiers sprayed automatic weapons fire into the air and threw tear gas to clear protesters blocking roads in the capital in the pre-dawn darkness Monday. Demonstrators responded by hurling at least one gasoline bomb and 70 people were reported injured, most by tear gas.
For four days, an American sea captain was held hostage by four Somali pirates. The waiting ended when U.S. Navy snipers killed three of Capt. Richard Phillips' captors. Phillips had been rescued uninjured. But Adm. Rich Gurnon, who described the captain as "the good shepherd who willingly exchanged his life for the lives of his flock," cautioned that the end of one hostage situation should not be taken as the end of the growing problem of piracy.
The family of a woman who faces charges of killing an 8-year-old playmate of her daughter's said Sunday the accusations are "completely out of character." The Tracy, California, family offered their prayers to the victim's family.