Operation Dawn 8: Gulf of Aden

Operation Dawn 8: Gulf of Aden
Part of Piracy in Somalia, Operation Ocean Shield, Operation Enduring Freedom – Horn of Africa
Date 20 January 2011 Location 300 miles southeast of the port of Muscat, Oman, near the Gulf of Aden Result PASKAL victory
Belligerents
Royal Malaysian Navy PASKAL	Somali pirates
Commanders and leaders
Comm. Nazri Sharif Lt. Cmdr Mohd Maznan Mohd Said Lt. Noor Asri Roslan Lt. Jason Solomon John	Ahmed Othman Jamal   Abdil Eid Hasan
Strength
MT Bunga Mas Lima 1 attack helicopter 21 MISC-RMN Reserves 14 PASKAL operators	1 skiff boat 7~18 pirates
Casualties and losses
None	3 wounded in action/captured 4 captured
Civilian casualties' No widely agreed-on figure.
Approximate location of rescue operation

 Royal Malaysian Navy

The Operation Dawn 8: Gulf of Aden (Malay: Operasi Fajar 8) was a naval operation carried out by the Royal Malaysian Navy against pirates in the Indian Ocean on 20 January 2011. In response to the hijacking of the MV Bunga Laurel, the Malaysian Shipborne Protection Team deploy an attack helicopter and 14 members of the naval counter-terrorism group PASKAL in two RHIB boats to retake the vessel and rescue the crew. After one night of trailing the tanker, the Malaysian forces successfully retook the ship by force on 20 January 2011, resulting in the wounding of three and the capture of four out of 18 pirates, and all 23 vessel crewmembers rescued.

On 20 January 2011, the Panama-owned, Japanese-registered and Malaysian operated chemical tanker MV Bunga Laurel, was carrying lubricating oil and ethylene dichloride worth an estimated RM30 million ($9.8 million) sailing through to Singapore when it was attacked by a group of Somali pirates 300 nautical miles (600 km; 300 mi) southeast of the port of Muscat, Oman. The hijacking of MV Bunga Laurel occurred about 300 nautical miles (560 km) (co-ordinate Latitude 20’ 14.73N Longitude 083’ 39.96E) east of Oman at 11:40 pm (MST), two hours after it was separated from a Navy secure escort in the Gulf of Aden. The tanker was boarded by seven of the 18 pirates armed with AK-47 rifles and pistols who came using skiff-type boats and firing at random. During the attack, 23 Filipino crewmembers on board the vessel activated the Ship Security Alert System before taking cover in a specially designed security compartment near the vessel’s engine room. All lights were turned off and the main engines were shut down.