(Bloomberg) — The crew of a Greek warship arrested nine suspected Somali pirates after they failed to hijack a cargo ship used by the French military, the European Unions anti-piracy fleet said.

Pirates attacked the vessel, the French-flagged Eclipse, on November 24 about 260 nautical miles northeast of the Seychelles islands.

The pirates aborted the raid when a French military team that was aboard the ship fired warnings shots at their skiff, Christophe Prazuck, a spokesman for the French military, said today in an interview.

A French Falcon 50 maritime patrol plane based in the Seychelles later located the skiff and its mother ship, Prazuck said. The Adrias, a Greek frigate serving with the EU fleet, intercepted the two boats yesterday, arresting nine Somalis and seizing equipment used in pirate attacks.

The Eclipse, owned by Compagnie Maritime Nantaise, is one of three commercial cargo ships permanently rented by the French military.

The vessel, which can carry as many as 1,000 vehicles, had delivered supplies to French forces in Kosovo and Lebanon and was on its way to France's Indian Ocean territories of Reunion and Mayotte when it was attacked, Prazuck said.

Somali pirates have attacked ships 192 times this year, seizing 36 ships, the French Navy said.

While most attacks last year and earlier this year were in the Gulf of Aden, those since the end of the summer monsoon season have been in the Indian Ocean, where foreign naval forces are less concentrated.

About 25 warships are patrolling the region, and have focused on the Gulf of Aden, a chokepoint for the 20,000 ships that use the Suez Canal annually.

Waters in the Gulf of Aden have become less hospitable to the pirates because of the patrols, Peter Pham, director of the African project at the National Committee on American Foreign Policy, a New York-based research centre, said in a telephone interview.

But they have acquired more sophisticated techniques that allow them to operate 500 miles from shore in the Indian Ocean, which might have less shipping but also fewer risks.

Pirates are holding 11 ships and 234 seamen for ransom, the French Navy said.