Commandos swoop on pirates

French commandos seized six pirates in Somalia yesterday during a daring helicopter raid launched shortly after the bandits had released the 30-strong crew of a luxury yacht hijacked last week.

French officials said the owners of the yacht paid a ransom to obtain the freedom of the crew and as soon as it was clear that they were all safe, the commandos went into action aboard helicopters to track down the pirates.

A district commissioner in Somalia said that five local people had died in the attack, but the French military denied killing anyone in their daylight raid.