French Nab Pirate 'Mother Ship'

By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Apr 15, 2009 10:03 AM CDT
French Nab Pirate 'Mother Ship'
This file photo shows the French navy frigate "Le Commandant Bouan", left, escorting French cruise ship Le Ponant, off Somalia's coasts, Friday, April 11, 2008.   (AP Photo/French Defense Ministry/HO)

French forces launched an attack on a 30-foot-long pirate "mother ship" early today, detaining 11 pirates and thwarting a pirate attack on a Liberian-registered vessel, the AP reports. The pirates are being held aboard the Nivose, a French frigate taking part in a European mission to protect shipping in the Gulf of Aden. A French surveillance helicopter spotted the pirates' mother ship yesterday, and it was intercepted 550 miles east of the Kenyan port of Mombasa.

(More pirates stories.)

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