New Delhi - The Indian Navy in another successful anti-piracy operation in the Gulf of Aden Saturday foiled an attack on an Ethiopian merchant vessel and arrested
23 Somali and Yemeni pirates, news reports said.

Pirates on two boats had surrounded the merchant vessel MV Jibe, 160 nautical miles east of Aden, when the Indian navy warship INS Mysore intervened and staved off the attack, the IANS news agency reported.

"Around 12 noon, INS Mysore received a SOS from the Ethiopian vessel, that it was under attack from two vessels," a navy spokesman told the IANS.

"Armed choppers with marine commandos immediately flew to the rescue and INS Mysore also started to close in. The commandos broke off the attack by the pirates and stopped two boats carrying 12 Somalis and 11 Yemenis," he added.

After the gunbattle, the naval commandos also boarded the pirates' boats and seized seven AK-47 automatic rifles, a grenade launcher and other arms and ammunition.

The pirates were being held on board of the INS Mysore while the legalities of their disembarkation and prosecution are being worked out, the report said.

The Indian media hailed it as a "major breakthrough" in the world's most dangerous waters off Somalia that regularly witnesses attacks by the sea brigands.

This was the second rescue action in the pirate-infested Gulf of Aden by the Indian Navy within a month.

On November 8, another warship, the INS Tabar had in a rescue mission repulsed an attack by pirates to hijack two ships - and Indian and a Saudi Arabian merchant vessel.

On November 18, the Navy claimed that the Tabar had sunk a Somali pirate vessel after coming under attack in the Gulf of Aden.

However, the action drew criticism as evidence later emerged that it was a Thai fishing trawler that was held hours earlier by pirates. The Thai foreign ministry sought a clarification from the Indian Navy about the incident.

According to India's Defence Ministry, Indian naval ships have successfully escorted nearly 50 cargo ships, including a number of foreign vessels, safely during their transit through the Gulf of Aden.

Piracy off the Horn of Africa nation has surged in recent months as Somalia descends further into chaos and the ineffectual central government continues to squabble rather than govern.

Around 17 ships and 300 crew members are currently in the hands of pirates, including a Saudi supertanker carrying crude oil worth 100 million dollars and a Ukrainian ship carrying a cargo of 33 tanks and other military equipment.

The surge in piracy has prompted increased patrols along the Somali coast by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Russia, India and France. (dpa)