Puntland,(insidesomalia.org)- The waters off the coast of Somalia are the worst in the world for pirate attacks, an international agency monitoring piracy has found.

The International Maritime Bureau (IMB) said a third of all piracy incidents recorded this year had taken place off east Somalia and into the Gulf of Aden.

The agency said pirates in the area believed they could act with impunity.

Nato ships are expected in the region in the coming days to escort aid ships through the dangerous waters.

But a spokesman said a precise time for the fleet's arrival could not be given because of delays caused by a violent storm that has sunk boats and killed livestock in northern Somalia.

'Robust action'

The IMB said 63 of the 199 incidents of piracy recorded in the first nine months of this year had taken place in the Gulf of Aden, off northern Somalia, and in waters off the country's eastern coast.

This was double the 36 attacks blamed on Somali pirates out of 198 worldwide in the same period last year, the bureau went on.

"Piracy attacks off the coast of Somalia are unprecedented," said Pottengal Mukundan, IMB director. "It is clear that pirates in the Gulf of Aden believe that they can operate with impunity in attacking vessels."

He said the extension of attacks from eastern Somalia into the Gulf of Aden now threatened a vital trade route between Asia and Europe.

International naval forces patrolling the region must take greater action to prevent future attacks, he said.

"What is required is robust action against the pirates' mother ships before they succeed in hijacking vessels," he said. "The locations and descriptions of these mother ships are known."

Piracy off the coast of Somalia is estimated to have cost up to $30m (£17m) in ransoms so far this year, according to a recent report.

Around a dozen ships and more than 250 crew are currently being held for ransom, including a Ukrainian ship carrying tanks and other weapons.

Nine pirates were reportedly handed over by the French navy to the authorities in northern Somalia's semi-autonomous region of Puntland on Thursday after being captured apparently trying to kidnap a vessel.

The Puntland authorities said earlier this week they had captured four pirates after their forces raided an Indian ship, freeing 13 crew.

'Self-defence measures'

The flotilla of seven Nato frigates and destroyers is due in the area "sometime in the next four or five days", a spokesman said.

He said the fleet will then split, with three or four carrying on with their original plan to conduct exercises with the Gulf States, while the result continue to Somalia.

The ships will escort World Food Programme ships carrying aid into Somalia, and provide a general deterrent.

Chief Nato spokesman James Appathurai said the crew would have a "full range of self-defence" measures at their disposal, including the "use of force". But he admitted "what they are trying to do is complicated".

"There are a host of pirates, but they don't identify themselves with eye-patches and hook hands so it isn't immediately obvious that they are pirates."

He said the rules of engagement should be agreed and finalised in the next day or two.

Source: BBC