Australian soldiers intercepted a tourist leisure boat in Iraqi territorial waters and held it up for three hours, an Iraqi official said in remarks published Tuesday.
"An Iraqi tourist ship, al-Fida, was the target of an act of piracy by some 20 Australian soldiers who were aboard two gunboats plying Gulf waters," said the director of the Basra branch of an Iraqi maritime firm, quoted by the weekly Al-Rafidain.
"The soldiers, who were equipped with sophisticated weapons, boarded the Iraqi ship as it sailed from Um Qasr to al-Maaqal port and searched it for three hours before allowing it to continue its journey," said the official.
Al-Rafidain, which said the Iraqi boat headed back to Um Qasr port, did not give a date for the incident. (Albawaba.com)
