US charges pirates who killed 2 couples on yacht

A US grand jury in Virginia has indicted 13 Somalis and one Yemeni for pirating a yacht with two American couples aboard who were later killed off the coast of Somalia, according to court papers unsealed on Thursday.

They were charged with piracy, conspiracy to commit kidnapping and the use of firearms during a crime, according to the indictment filed in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.

The group seized the yacht last month and were negotiating with the US military to release the couples when a pirate fired a rocket-propelled grenade at the guided-missile destroyer USS Sterett.

Gunfire then broke out inside the pirated vessel, prompting the US military to send American special forces to board the vessel. The US military has said the pirates shot the hostages before US troops boarded the yacht.

US troops killed two pirates as they boarded the boat. Another two pirates were found dead when the US special forces arrived but they were not killed by US forces, the military has said.

The Americans killed last month were Jean and Scott Adam, from California, and Phyllis Macay and Bob Riggle from Seattle.

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