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NAIROBI, Kenya — A Ukrainian cargo ship carrying tanks and other heavy weapons sailed Saturday for Kenya with a U.S. military escort, leaving the Somali coast where pirates had held it for more than four months.
MV Faina was heading for the port of Mombasa under its own power, Vadim Alperin, the ship’s owner, said in a statement posted on a Russian maritime website. It was being escorted by the guided missile destroyer USS Mason, and U.S. Navy commandos were on board the Faina to provide security, he said.
The U.S. Navy has watched over the Faina since its Sept. 25 capture by Somali pirates to make sure its cargo of 33 tanks and weapons did not fall into the hands of Somali insurgents thought to be linked to al-Qaeda.
