MOGADISHU (Reuters) Somali pirates holding an American hostage on a drifting lifeboat vowed on Friday to fight any attack by U.S. naval forces stalking them at high sea.
"We are not afraid of the Americans," one of the pirates told Reuters by satellite phone on behalf of the gang holding ship captain Richard Phillips in the Indian Ocean.
"We will defend ourselves if attacked."
Despite their defiant talk, maritime groups tracking the saga -- the first time Somali pirates have captured an American -- say a more likely outcome is a negotiated solution, possibly involving safe passage in exchange for their captive.
Four pirates have been holding Phillips, a former Boston taxi driver, since Wednesday after a foiled bid to hijack the 17,000-tonne Maersk Alabama several hundred miles off Somalia.
The ship's lifeboat has run out of fuel, other pirates are too nervous to help them due to the presence of foreign naval ships, and the USS Bainbridge destroyer is up close.
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