EYL, Somalia Aug 23 (Garowe Online) - The mayor of a small coastal town in northeastern Somalia has declared that local authorities are unable to stop pirates.

Abdullahi Said O’Yusuf, the mayor of Eyl in Puntland region, confirmed Radio Garowe during a Saturday interview that four hijacked ships are being held hostage near the town’s shores.

“They are stronger than us,” Mayor O’Yusuf said, while speaking of the pirates.

He condemned continued attacks on foreign ships traveling across the Indian Ocean, while underlining that local authorities “cannot do anything” to stop piracy.

The Associated Press has reported that four ships – with owners in Malaysia, Iran, Japan and Germany – and a total crew of 96 people are being held hostage by Somali pirates. [ READ: Pirates fail to hijack Japanese ship off Somalia]

Mayor O’Yusuf said the pirates who hijacked the ships “are the same ones who received ransom payments before,” referring to previous pirate attacks in the region.

According to the Mayor, pirates use ransom payments to “buy houses in big cities” in different parts of the country.

Somalia, in the volatile Horn of Africa region, has been lawless since 1991 with a bloody insurgency raging in the southern regions after Ethiopian troops invaded in late 2006.

Source: Garowe Online