Pirates attack French Navy ship
Some Somali pirates have learned the perils of making night attacks. Last night they picked the wrong target. Mistaking the French Navy command and replenishment ship Somme for a commercial ship, they opened fire on her from two skiffs.
The Somme, which was 400 nautical miles off the Somali coast to replenish anti-piracy forces, fired warning shots.
The pirates took flight. The Somme took up the chase and detected a further pirate vessel — the mother ship. The Somme intercepted it within an hour and found two suspects on board along with fuel, munitions and other piracy paraphenalia.
The Somme took the two suspects on board and destroyed the mother vessel. It resumed its pursuit and a few hours later intercepted a skiff with four suspects on board.
The skiff and all six pirate suspects are now on board the Somme.
On October 7, 2009 another group of pirates mistook the Somme for a merchant vessel. That time five of them were captured.
Source:marinelog