Somali pirates plead not guilty

NORFOLK, Va. (AP) - Eleven Somali nationals accused in separate pirate attacks on U.S. Navy ships in waters off Africa pleaded not guilty Wednesday to a new government indictment.

Judges scheduled Oct. 19 and Nov. 9 trial dates for the two groups of defendants, who are accused in April attacks on two Virginia-based ships patrolling pirate-infested waters off Africa.

The men, who have been held in a Norfolk-area jail since their arrival in Virginia in April, were ordered held without bail until their trials.

The superseding indictment returned by grand jurors adds additional weapons charges to the initial indictment, unsealed when the men were brought to Norfolk for prosecution. The most serious charge of piracy carries a mandatory life term.

The expanded charges claim some of the men had a rocket-propelled grenade launcher and assaulted federal officers during the alleged attacks.

The six defendants in the alleged attack on the USS Ashland were captured in the Gulf of Aden off Somalia, where the Navy ships were part of an international flotilla protecting shipping lanes.

In the encounter with the USS Nicholas, the five defendants were captured after an exchange of fire with the crew of the frigate, west of the Seychelles.

Attorneys for the defendants have previously filed motions to dismiss the piracy charges, claiming the men never seized the Navy ships, and one attorney has sought to move the trial out of Norfolk because of its big military presence.

Naval Station Norfolk is the world's largest naval base.

A number of other motions accuse the government of not reading the defendants their rights and destroying evidence -- a skiff used in one of the alleged attacks.