(Updates with pirates deny shootout) By Andrew Cawthorne NAIROBI, Sept 30 (Reuters) - Three Somali pirates were killed in a shootout between rivals aboard a hijacked Ukrainian ship carrying 33 tanks, a maritime group monitoring the situation said on Tuesday. But the pirates denied any fighting on the MV Faina, seized six days ago in the most high-profile of a wave of hijackings off lawless Somalia this year. The pirates, under U.S. navy surveillance, are demanding a $20 million ransom. The East African Seafarers' Assistance Programme, monitoring the hijacking via relatives of the crew and contacts with pirates, said that factions had argued over whether to free the cargo and crew. "The radicals on board do not want to listen to anyone," said Andrew Mwangura, an official of the maritime body. "The moderates want to back-peddle. The Americans are close, so everyone is tense. There was a shootout and three of the pirates were shot dead." U.S. navy ships are shadowing the boat, whose capture has sparked controversy over the destination of its cargo and thrown a spotlight on rampant piracy in one of the world's busiest shipping areas connecting Europe to Asia and the Middle East. The pirates denied there had been any fighting. "We have not fought among ourselves. Those are rumours spread by the media," Mohamed, a pirate on board the Ukranian vessel, told Reuters. Another gunman on a separate captured Greek ship nearby also said there had been no exchange of fire. "There is no fighting and all is well. There is a warship near us but it is watching us. It has been nearby but we have neither communicated nor exchanged fire," said Mahad, a pirate. The U.S. navy has said the ship, which was heading for Kenya's Mombasa port, was carrying T-72 tanks, grenade-launchers and ammunition ultimately bound for south Sudan via Kenya. Kenya says the armoury was for its military. Taking advantage of chaos on shore, where an Islamist-led insurgency has raged for nearly two years, Somali pirates have seized more than 30 ships this year and attacked many more. RICH PIRATES Most attacks have been in the Gulf of Aden between Yemen and north Somalia, a major global sea artery used by about 20,000 vessels a year heading to and from Suez. The pirates have also struck in the busy Indian Ocean waters off south Somalia. With U.S. and French military bases in the area, many are unhappy with the lack of international action. "If civil aircraft were being hijacked on a daily basis, the response of governments would be very different," top shipping trade bodies and transport unions said in a joint statement. "Yet ships, which are the lifeblood of the global economy, are seemingly out of sight and out of mind." As well as building new homes and taking new wives from ransoms, the increasingly rich pirates have bought speedboats, satellite phones and other equipment to aid their trade. "There is a striking similarity between the actions of these unscrupulous pirates and the activity in 'blood diamonds' in Liberia and Sierra Leone during the civil wars in these countries," said U.N. envoy to Somalia, Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah. "No ship, big or small, civil or military, is spared. With the seizure of the Ukrainian ship, a new line has been crossed." U.S. analyst J. Peter Pham, of Madison University, called for a united international naval response, more attention to solving Somalia's civil conflict, and better protection equipment on board commercial vessels. "Many have done little aside from being prepared to pay ransoms which only perpetuate the cycle of violence," he wrote in a new report on the Somali piracy phenomenon. (Additional reporting by Stefano Ambrogi in London, Abdi Shiekh in Mogadishu and Abdiqani Hassan in Bosasso; Editing by Matthew Tostevin)
Ethiopian refuge-seekers rest on a roadside near the southern Yemeni village of al-Khabar after they arrived on a smugglers' boat from Somalia September 29, 2008. At least 52 Somalis died off ...
