Action against pirate bases OKd

On the same day Somali gunmen seized two more ships, the U.N. Security Council voted unanimously to authorize nations to conduct land and air attacks on pirate bases on the coast of the Horn of Africa country.

The Security Council authorized nations to use “all necessary measures that are appropriate in Somalia” to stop anyone from using Somali territory to plan or carry out piracy in the nearby waters, which are traversed each year by thousands of cargo ships sailing between Asia and the Suez Canal. That includes the use of Somali airspace, U.S. officials said.