The latest Piracy Report for the 1st six months of 2008 is here:-
Piracy Report Link
An analysis was carried to extract the 19 armed attacks that took place in the Gulf of Aden as opposed to the those that occurred in the Africa and elsewhere. They were concentrated in a area encapsulated by the following coordinates : 12º 45' <<>> 14º 30 North x 48º 00' <<>> 51º 00' East
The plotted positions of the attacks show clearly that the majority (70%) took place close to the Yemen coast line. At face value it is not difficult to conclude that the pirate boats operate out of Yemen - reasoning being that because these boats are powered by gas guzzling outboards - refueling much easier than in Somaliland which has very limited facilities and no oil of its own.
However, it is not concluded that the pirates are Yemeni - history points at fishermen and mountain peoples from Puntland.
These boats are to be found in their thousands along 100nm Yemen Coast west and east of Al Mukalla