French navy has arrested some 35 suspected pirates off the coast of Somalia in an operation stretching nearly three days, claimed the French defense ministry on Monday.
According to the ministry statement, French frigate FS Nivose was assisted by an Italian naval vessel and a Spanish aerial surveillance team consisting of two helicopters in the three-day operation, which was launched Friday.
The statement said that the pirates were detained in four separate operations off the coast of Somalia, but did not specify where exactly the action took place. While 22 suspected were detained Friday, two others were seized Saturday and eleven more on Sunday.
The defense ministry described the capture of the 35 suspected pirates in the three-day operation as "the biggest seizure" of its kind since European Union launched its Atalanta anti-piracy mission off the coast of Somalia in December 2008.
The statement went to say that the naval forces involved in the operation also seized four mother ships and six smaller boats used by he pirates to launch attacks on passing merchant and passenger ships.
The developments come just days after Spanish trawler Albacan repelled a pirate attack in the Indian Ocean on Thursday after private security guards on the trawler opened fire on the attacking fishing vessel.
However, pirates successfully hijacked a Saudi oil tanker in the Gulf of Aden on Monday and took it to the Somali town of Garacad. Later in the week, pirates hijacked Norwegian oil tanker UBT Ocean in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Madagascar on Friday and are currently taking the ship towards the Somali coast.
The Somali coast, particularity the Gulf of Aden, has been infected with piracy in recent years. More than 160 pirate attacks were reported in the waters off Somalia last year.
The pirates have managed to hijack at least 34 vessels since the beginning of last year, and are currently holding some 10 ships and 200 hostages. Generally, the crew and the vessels are returned unharmed on receiving the demanded ransom.
Somalia has been without a functioning government since the fall of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre's government in 1991. Currently, a weak UN-backed interim government under President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed is trying to enforce its authority in the country, most of which is controlled by various Islamist insurgent groups.
Pirate attacks off the Somali coast have continued despite the presence of several warships, deployed by navies of the NATO, the European Union, Russia, China, South Korea and India, in the region to protect cargo and cruise ships against piracy.
The UN Security Council has approved four resolutions since June to promote international efforts in fighting the escalating piracy problem off the coast of Somalia, authorizing countries involved in anti-piracy operations off the Somali coast to conduct land and air attacks on Somali pirates after obtaining prior permission from the Somali government.
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