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Local and Regional News
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Eleven Somali nationals accused in separate pirate attacks on U.S. Navy ships in waters off Africa pleaded not guilty yesterday to a new government indictment.
Judges scheduled Oct. 19 and Nov. 9 trial dates for the two groups of defendants. They are accused of attacks on two Virginia-based ships patrolling pirate-infested waters off Africa in April. The men, who have been held in a Norfolk-area jail since their arrival in Virginia in April, were ordered held without bond 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
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