NATO naval ships foiled a pirate attack on a Norwegian tanker, catching up with the would-be hijackers on Sunday after a seven-hour pursuit, but a captured Belgian vessel was headed for Somalia.

The dramatic overnight chase in the Gulf of Aden came after seven pirates on a skiff tried to board the 80 000-ton MV Front Ardennes but fled when foreign ships approached.

First on the scene was a British Royal Fleet Auxiliary vessel, the Wave Knight, but it was a Canadian frigate, the Winnipeg, which then gave chase.

"The pirates who initially had weapons and what appeared to be climbing gear threw all of that overboard," said NATO maritime spokesperson Commander Chris Davies.

No jurisdiction

"When the Winnipeg finally caught up and stopped them... I am told there was sufficient evidence that these were pirates."

The suspects were held and questioned but could not be charged with any offence because doing so was not within Canada's jurisdiction.

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper praised the crew of the Winnipeg for their "tremendous work."

"We obviously act within our legal authority and also within our capacities," Harper told reporters at the end of the Summit of the Americas in Trinidad and Tobago.

A Belgian ship, the 65-metre (213-foot) Pompei, was not so lucky, falling into pirate hands about 150 kilometres north of the Seychelles in the Indian Ocean.

A reconnaissance flight on Saturday by a Spanish naval helicopter revealed the Pompei was towing a much smaller vessel — thought to be a pirate boat — and was heading towards the Somali coast, some 700 kilometres away.

The Pompei would likely arrive there on Wednesday, said Belgian officials. They would not say if any anti-piracy ships in the area would try to intervene.

"Like all hostage cases, there are several possibilities that will be examined in the coming days," said Jaak Raes of Belgium's crisis management centre. Government ministers would discuss the matter on Monday, he added.

The captain of the 1850-ton vessel is Dutch, and the rest of the crew comprises two Belgians, three Filipinos and four Croatians. It is the first Belgian ship to be seized by Somali pirates.

Yemeni fishermen freed

Dutch marines, meanwhile, thwarted a pirate attack on a Greek-owned tanker in the Gulf of Aden on Saturday, freeing 16 Yemeni fishermen in the process.

A Dutch defence ministry spokesperson said a British naval vessel intervened, keeping its guns trained on the pirates until Dutch commandos arrived under NATO orders to board.

"The marines found 25 people on board, nine of them suspected pirates," spokesperson Robin Middel told AFP. The remaining 16 were Yemeni fishermen.

They seized and destroyed seven AK47 assault rifles and a rocket launcher. but the suspects were later released.

"There exists no legal framework in NATO for arrests to be carried out," Middel explained.

The Law of the Sea Convention gives foreign warships the right to prevent, deter and respond to acts of piracy, but does not apply to territorial waters and does not properly address the issue of transfer ashore.

Scores of suspected pirates have been captured by foreign warships since piracy surged in the Indian Ocean and Gulf of Aden in late 2007, but few have been taken into foreign custody.

Most have been handed over to the authorities of the breakaway Somali state of Puntland, a major piracy hub.

In an operation last Sunday to free the captain of a US ship held hostage on a lifeboat, American naval forces shot dead three pirates and captured the fourth, who is to face charges in a New York court.

Puntland's president, Abdurahman Mohamed Farole, on a visit to Nairobi this weekend appealed for international assistance to set up a special anti-piracy task force comprising some 2400 men.

Somali pirates attacked more than 130 merchant ships in the Gulf of Aden last year, an increase of more than 200 percent on 2007, according to the International Maritime Bureau which tracks piracy.

AFP

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