1,400 German troops to fight pirates?

BERLIN, Nov. 26 (UPI) -- Germany plans to contribute up to 1,400 armed forces to an EU mission aimed at fighting pirates, according to a newspaper report.

A German frigate with a crew of roughly 500 will patrol the Horn of Africa, where the pirates have been most active, the German daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung said. Moreover, individual battalions will secure German freight ships sailing the routes where pirates are known to attack. The newspaper put the total number of troops Germany will send to fight piracy at 1,400.

The German Defense Ministry so far has not commented on the exact details of its contribution to the anti-piracy mission the EU plans to have in endangered waters starting next month.

Berlin said it wants to make a decision by mid-December.

This past weekend a German frigate dispatched its helicopter to aid two freight ships that were under attack from pirate speedboats in the Gulf of Aden.

Over the past months the number of pirate attacks in the Gulf of Aden, an area of 1 million square miles bordered by Somalia and Yemen, has increased dramatically. This past weekend pirates hijacked a Saudi supertanker carrying some 2 million barrels of oil valued at more than $100 million. Saudi officials are currently in negotiations with the pirates over the release of the ship and its crew of 25.