A MEMBER of the Somali pirate group involved in the capture and murder of four Americans off the coast of Somalia said Wednesday that they only killed the hostages because the US military started firing at them.
"We had no intention of killing the hostages until the Americans began shooting at us," Liban Muse told the Los Angeles Times.
"Our preference is only to take ships and ransom money, not to kill. But governments are targeting and killing our people."
Jean Adam, 66, and 70-year-old Scott Adam, the yacht's Californian owners, and two others, Phyllis Macay, 59, and Bob Riggle, 67, from Seattle, were on board the S/V Quest, reportedly heading for the coast of Somalia, when it was seized Friday afternoon 240 nautical miles off the coast of Oman.
US Central Command (CENTCOM) announced Tuesday that the four were killed by their captors.
US forces aboard four navy warships had been monitoring the captured vessel for approximately three days and had been taking part in negotiations to secure the release of the four Americans.
Two pirates boarded the USS Sterett to participate in negotiations. It was unclear if any ransom was offered to the pirates.
As the talks continued Tuesday, the pirates aboard the yacht fired a rocket-propelled grenade toward the USS Sterett "with absolutely no warning," Vice Adm. Mark Fox, commander of US Naval Forces Central Command, said in a telephone briefing.
Gunfire then erupted inside the yacht's cabin, after which pirates appeared on the deck of the yacht and moved toward the bow with their hands in the air to surrender.
US Special Operations Forces boarded the yacht by small boat and discovered the four American hostages had been shot.
"Despite immediate steps to provide life-saving care, all four hostages ultimately died of their wounds," CENTCOM said in a statement.
The US forces killed one pirate with a firearm and another with a knife as they cleared the yacht. The remains of two other pirates were discovered aboard the Quest.
Thirteen pirates were captured by US forces. CENTCOM said it believed 19 pirates were involved in the hijacking of the Quest.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the US condemned the murders.
"This deplorable act firmly underscores the need for continued international progress toward confronting the shared security challenge posed by piracy in the waters off the Horn of Africa," Clinton said in a statement.
She said the US would honor the victims' memory by "continuing to strengthen international partnerships in order to bring these maritime criminals to justice."
Asked whether the pirates who killed the Americans would face prosecution in the US, Department of Justice spokesman Dean Boyd said: "The United States is committed to working with our international partners to ensure that the perpetrators of this heinous crime are brought to justice."
"The Justice Department and FBI are investigating and reviewing evidence at this time," Boyd told Fox News Channel.
The Adams had been sailing around the world for more than seven years on a 10-year mission to deliver Bibles. The yacht was en route to Oman from India when it was seized.
"Jean and Scott were faithful people," said Father Lloyd Torgerson, pastor of Saint Monica Catholic Church near Los Angeles where the couple was active.
"They were people that worked hard all their lives and decided in their retirement that they wanted to do something to make a difference in this world," he said, cited by AFP.
Clayton Schmit, a friend of Scott Adam, told CNN the couple knew the trip could be dangerous but had had "this tremendous heart" for religious missions.
In San Francisco, Nina Crossland, Macay's niece, called her aunt "a very smart and avid sailor." Crossland said her family understood that if the hostages were brought to shore in Somalia, "it was going to be a really bad situation."
"We also understood that the navy was doing their best to prevent them from getting to shore, and that gave us a little more hope," she said. "Unfortunately, there was commotion on the ship that didn't involve the navy at the time that started all of this."
The couple had kept a blog on their latest trip, which began in early January at the Thai resort of Phuket. Jean Adam described Djibouti, past Somalia and the Gulf of Aden, as "a big refueling stop."
"I have NO idea what will happen in these ports, but perhaps we'll do some local touring," she wrote.
The bodies of the four Americans are being held aboard the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise, which is also where the pirate prisoners are located, a senior navy official told Fox News.
The White House said Tuesday that President Barack Obama authorized the use of force against the pirates if the hostages faced an imminent threat. Obama was notified at 4:42am ET by White House counterterrorism adviser John Brennan that the hostages had been killed.
Vice Adm. Fox said Tuesday that while the US and other nations were patrolling the seas to help maintain the free movement of vessels, he said pirate activity had extended across a vast swath of ocean, adding: "There's a lot of places where we are not."
"There were explicit warnings to mariners about the regions, the dangers and the pirate activity in this area," Fox went on.
Fox said there were no reported injuries to US naval personnel or damage to US ships during the incident.
