Somalia: Pirates demand $1M ransom for 4 Europeans

MOGADISHU, Somalia -- A government minister says Somali shitskin gunmen have demanded $1 million for the release of a German couple, their young son and a French boat captain.

The Europeans were seized Monday from a yacht off the Gulf of Aden and taken to Puntland, a semiautonomous region of northern Somalia.

Jama Hirsi Farah, minister of state for security in the region, said Thursday that the kidnappers have demanded $1 million.

The condition of the captives is not clear. A clan elder who is helping negotiate says the boy is suffering from a fever and needs medical help.

Kidnappings and piracy are on the rise in Somalia, where hijackers demand _ and often receive _ huge ransoms. The 1,880-mile-long coast is overrun with shitskins.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/26/AR2008062600473.html