Troops from the Somali region of Puntland on Sunday rescued 22 hostages including Pakistanis held by pirates for almost three years after their ship was seized off the Yemeni coast, the authorities said, adding that the men bore signs of torture.

The crew from the Dubai-owned and Panamanian-flagged MV Iceberg were freed after two weeks of fighting and a siege of the vessel off the coast of Somalia, the Puntland authorities said in a statement, "Puntland government forces conducting a humanitarian rescue operation have safely rescued 22 hostages on board the MV Iceberg 1 vessel."

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2012