NAIROBI, May 6 (Xinhua) -- European Union's anti-piracy mission said its warship's disabling fire stopped fleeing pirate skiff and arrested 12 Somali pirates about 400 nautical miles northwest of Seychelles on Wednesday.
EU Naval Force spokesman John Harbour said the Swedish Maritime Patrol Aircraft detected a Pirate Action Group (PAG) about 400 nautical miles northwest of Seychelles and sent French warship La Fayette to the position to intercept the PAG. "Later in the afternoon, FS La Fayette found the PAG, consisting of one Whaler and two skiffs with a total of 12 suspected pirates. The mother ship and one skiff stopped immediately when ordered to do so, but the remaining skiff tried to escape," Harbour said.
According to Harbour, a marksman from Lafayette was able to stop the fleeing skiff with disabling fire which destroyed both engines and arrested all pirates.
"Onboard the skiff was a quantity of arms and ladders and these have been seized. The EU NAVFOR Dutch warship Johan De Witt was close by and is providing assistance to the operation," he said.
Kenya shares its southern border with Somalia, whose coastline has been infected with piracy in recent years.
More than 160 pirate attacks were reported in the waters off Somalia from the beginning of last year.
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, Republic of Korea and India, in the region to protect cargo and cruise ships against piracy.
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