Somali pirates in 2010 continued a trend that began in 2008, expanding the geographic scope of their attacks from the Gulf of Aden toward the Indian and Malagasy coasts. In December 2010, pirates struck only 185 kilometers (300 miles) off the coast of southern India as well as along the coastline of Madagascar; both attacks were more than 2,400 kilometers from the pirate havens in central Somalia. This geographic expansion is largely attributable to the pirates' use of larger mother ships, often fishing vessels that are hijacked closer to home and used to leapfrog across the Indian Ocean. STRATFOR expects pirate activity to continue to expand in geographic scope so long as pirates are allowed to maintain their safe havens on land in Somalia with impunity.
