U.S. NAVY TRANSFERS SUSPECTED SOMALI PIRATES TO KENYA FOR TRIAL

Nairobi, Kenya, Jan 31, 2006 (Xinhua) – The United States navy has handed over suspected Somali pirates it captured off the coast of Somalia after firing warning shots at their ship a week ago, in the first sign of a military crackdown on Somalia's anarchic coastal waters.

Kenyan authorities said Monday the suspects who are detained at a police station in the coastal city of Mombasa were handed over to the police on Sunday.

The authorities say the suspects who were arrested on Jan. 21 may be charged in court later Monday.

The U.S. navy said in a statement issued a week ago that a missile destroyer, the USS Winston S. Churchill, and other U.S. naval forces in the area located the pirate ship after receiving a report of a piracy attempt on Jan. 20.

After unsuccessful attempts to contact the ship, the destroyer began what the navy called "aggressive maneuvering" to stop the vessel.

The pirate ship finally stopped after the destroyer fired warning shots, and the crew effectively surrendered.

The navy says sailors discovered small arms on the ship.

So rampant is the piracy that many shipping companies resort to paying ransoms, saying they have few alternatives.

The Semlow, a ship carrying rice for emergency food aid to Somalia, was held by pirates from June to October last year. It was only released after a ransom was paid.

Pirates have carried out about 35 attacks off the Somali coast since last March.

Somalia's transitional government has signed a 50-million- dollar deal with a U.S. maritime security firm to fight piracy.

A series of pirate raids has forced relief agencies to take shipments of emergency food aid overland, raising the costs and threatening the survival