A French naval vessel intercepted 11 suspected pirates traveling off the Somali coast on Sunday in two assault vessels and a so-called «mothership» loaded with Kalashnikovs and rocket launchers, the French Defense Ministry said, AP reported. It was the French ship's third pirate intervention in a month. France has been the most aggressive in pursuing pirates out of more than a dozen nations patrolling shipping routes in the Gulf of Aden. Another three suspected pirates were detained Saturday by the Seychelles coast guard, which had been alerted by the French warship Nivose after European officials decided there was not enough evidence to hold them. French Defense Ministry spokesman Christophe Prazuck said the 11 new suspects were intercepted Sunday morning about 900 kilometers (560 miles) off Somalia's coast. They had been traveling with a pirate mothership _ a larger vessel often used to tow speed boats hundreds of miles (kilometers) out to sea and resupply them in open water. Prazuck said it was still unclear what France would do with the new suspects. Pirates are now holding 17 ships and around 300 crew, including the Greek-owned cargo ship Ariana, hijacked early Saturday with a Ukrainian crew.
