Around the World: Somalia

Pirate attack repelled

A French warship thwarted an attack by Somali pirates on a cargo ship in the Gulf of Aden and arrested eight men, the French military said on Friday.

The French frigate was patrolling the seas off Somalia as part of a European Union mission when it received a distress signal on Thursday from a Panamanian-registered boat that was being pursued by pirates. A spokesman for the French armed forces, Christophe Prazuck, said the pirates fled when the frigate first approached and were eventually captured when they made a second attempt to seize the S. Venus cargo ship some hours later.