Post Wire Service

Last updated: 5:35 am
October 1, 2008
Posted: 3:38 am
October 1, 2008

Somali pirates who hijacked an Iranian ship off the coast of Africa may have unknowingly seized a lethal cargo, according to a frightening new report.

There are indications the Iran Deyanat is carrying a secret stash of deadly materials that can be used to make chemical and biological weapons, the Fox News Channel reported yesterday.

The ship was seized Aug. 21 and the pirates searched the containers. Days later, many fell ill and died, Fox said. Others suffered skin burns and hair loss.

Hassan Osman, Somalia’s minister of oil and gas, blamed contact with the mystery agents after meeting with the hijackers.

“The ship is unusual,” he told the Long War Journal, a Web site that covers terrorism. “It’s not carrying a normal shipment.”

Iran has called the allegation a “sheer lie.”

The ship – and at least one other hijacked vessel – remains surrounded by US Navy vessels and helicopters off the lawless Somali coast, but the pirate crews are showing no sign of giving up.

They’re demanding millions of dollars in ransom, and the cordon is to keep them from taking any weapons – biological or conventional – to shore.

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