The dramatic overnight chase in the Gulf of Aden came after seven pirates on a skiff tried to board the 80,000-tonne 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 spokesman Commander Chris Davies.

"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.

A Belgian ship, the 65-metre (213-foot) Pompei, was not so lucky, falling into pirate hands about 150 kilometres (93 miles) north of the Seychelles in the Indian Ocean.

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

The captain of the 1,850-tonne vessel is Dutch, and the rest of the crew comprises two Belgians, three Filipinos and four Croatians. It was the first Belgian ship to be seized by Somali pirates.

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 spokesman said the attack had been launched from a dhow, a traditional Arab sail boat, captured last Thursday.

The pirates fled back to the dhow but a British naval vessel in the vicinity intervened and kept its guns trained on the group until Dutch commandos arrived under NATO orders to board.

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

They also found seven AK47 assault rifles and a rocket launcher, which were seized and destroyed. The suspects were later released on the instructions of a NATO squadron commander.

"There exists no legal framework in the 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 it does not apply to territorial waters and inadequately addresses the issue of transfer ashore.

While scores of suspected pirates have been captured by foreign warships since piracy surged in the Indian Ocean and Gulf of Aden in late 2007, 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 weekend 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 of some 2,400 men to patrol the coast and rein in attacks.

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.

Philippines President Gloria Arroyo issued directives to try and ban Filipino seamen from serving on ships in the pirate-infested sea lanes off Somalia, although officials conceded it was not clear how to enforce the ban.

Some 105 Philippine nationals are still in the hands of Somali pirates.

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