Six pirates arrested after mistakenly attacking French military ship

Six pirates were captured after they mistakenly attacked a French military ship in the waters off the coast of Somalia, the EU's naval force said on Wednesday.

EUNAVFOR said in a statement that on the night of April 19, 400 nautical miles from the coast of Somalia, French replenishment ship SOMME came under attack from two skiffs with six pirates on board.

"The pirates, mistaking the SOMME's silhouette for that of a merchant vessel, opened fire on the French ship. FS SOMME responded with warning shots, causing the two pirate skiffs to flee," the statement said.

"Whilst chasing one of the skiffs, FS SOMME detected another boat which turned out to be the pirate mother ship, the vessel which controls and resupplies the pirate skiffs. The mother ship was captured less than half an hour later with two pirates on board, and her fuel and pirate paraphanalia (weapons and grappling lines) were seized. The mother ship was destroyed and sank," it said.

The French military vessel was also mistakenly attacked by pirates on October 7, 2009, with five pirates captured.

Source: Xinhua