Somali pirates free ship after ransom - Kenyan official

NAIROBI, May 29 (Reuters) Somali pirates have released a St Kitts-flagged ship and its 16 crew after receiving a 100,000 dollars ransom, a Kenyan maritime official said today.

Another four ships were still held off Somalia's coast where pirates frequently hijack vessels and sometimes claim to be coastguards protecting their waters against illegal fishing and dumping of toxic waste, the official said.

''The Mariam Queen has been released and is headed towards Mogadishu. We hear the owners paid 100,000,'' dollars Andrew Mwangura, director of the Seafarers' Assistance Programme in the Kenyan port of Mombasa, told Reuters by telephone.

''The pirates had demanded 150,000 dollars but it fell to 100,000 dollars after negotiations,'' he said.

The ship would unload its cargo in Mogadishu, he added, but gave no other details.

Another vessel attacked by pirates earlier this month-- the MV Victoria--was expected to dock in Mombasa on Tuesday, Mwangura said. The World Food Programme had contracted that vessel to deliver aid supplies to Somalia.

Four other ships-- an Indian dhow and three fishing vessels from Taiwan and Tanzania-- were still being held, he said.

REUTERS NC HT1737