Blundering pirates held after attack on warship

The French Navy said they seized 11 pirates Sunday after they apparently mistook a French military vessel for a commercial ship and made a run at it. Two pirate assault boats approached the Nivose “at great speed,” Capt. Christophe Prazuck said, but a French helicopter intervened before the attackers had time to fire at the French navy ship. The helicopter fired warning shots, he said.

The pirates, who had a mother ship as well as the two assault boats, are being held for questioning on the Nivose, Prazuck said. The vessels were carrying AK-47 rifles and rocket-propelled grenades, but the pirates did not fire, he said. The incident took place about 1,000 km east of Mombasa, Kenya, he added.

The latest incident has not deterred the Somali pirates. They hijacked a Pakistani-owned ship yesterday, bringing the pirates’ haul since the start of the year to more than 30 vessels, at least 18 of which are still being held, together with around 300 seamen.