SOMALI gunmen last week captured 33 foreign fishermen said to have been fishing illegally in Somali waters and vowed to punish them under Somali law, according to local elders on Wednesday. The fishermen, who were captured off the the Somali Ayl coast in the region of Garowe, along with their 1000-ton fishing trawler, include two Italians, three Romanians and 28 Africans, most of them from Kenya, the elders said. Somali gunmen have captured many fishing vessels along the coast since 1991, only releasing them after payment of exorbitant fines.
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