This Sunday's psalm tells of the "joyful shout of victory" in the tents of the just. Joyful shouts of victory went up from crew members of the U.S.-flagged Maersk Alabama Easter Sunday after the stunning rescue of Captain Richard Phillips, held captive in a lifeboat by Somali pirates for five tense days. There is widespread concern, however, that the rescue operation, which killed three of the captors, could make the piracy situation off the coast of Somalia worse.

Somali pirates vowed to hunt down American ships and kill their sailors Wednesday, and French forces detained 11 other hijackers in a high-seas raid, raising tensions a day after an abortive attack on a U.S. freighter loaded with food aid.

Pirates fired grenades and automatic weapons at the Liberty Sun, but its American crew successfully blockaded themselves inside the engine room. The ship was damaged in Tuesday's attack but escaped and was heading to Kenya under U.S. Navy guard.

Meanwhile the French navy detained 11 Somali pirates on Wednesday who tried to seize a Liberian-flagged merchant ship, and other pirates released a Greek-owned vessel captured in March, officials said.

A pirate whose gang attacked the Liberty Sun admitted that his group was targeting American ships and sailors. "We will seek out the Americans and if we capture them we will slaughter them," said a 25-year-old pirate based in the Somali port of Harardhere who gave only his first name, Ismail.

Tuesday's attack foiled the reunion between Phillips and the 19-man crew he saved with his heroism. Phillips had planned to meet his crew in Mombasa and fly home with them Wednesday but was stuck on the U.S.S. Bainbridge when it was diverted to help the Liberty Sun.

Source: Articles by Elizabeth A. Kennedy for the Associated Press and Sophie Hardah for Reuters