PARIS (AFP) — The French military on Friday detained six pirates after they freed the 30 crew members of a French luxury boat seized a week ago off Somalia, while a source said a two-million-dollar ransom was paid.
A Somali regional governor also said three people were killed when French helicopters later carried out a raid against pirates in northeastern Somalia after the hostages were freed.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy's office "categorically" denied the governor's claims.
Sarkozy earlier announced that the hostages including 22 French crew members had been freed in an operation that took place "without incident."
Armed forces chief of staff General Jean-Louis Georgelin said half of the hostage takers were arrested about one hour after they had released the crew and had returned on land.
The six pirates were taken aboard a French navy ship where they were being held on Friday, said a statement from the French presidency.
"We were able to track the pirates which enabled a helicopter-borne action to intercept half of them," Georgelin told a news conference.
A source close to the negotiations said the owner of the boat paid some two million dollars (1.3 million euros) for the release of the crew members. A portion of the ransom was later recovered when the six pirates were detained, the source said, without providing an amount.
The governor of Somalia's Mudug region said the French helicopter raid occurred in Jariban village, near Garaad hamlet, where the French yacht, Le Ponant, had been held.
"I can confirm that three bodies were found and collected. Eight others were wounded while eight others were taken by the French," said Dahir Abdul Kadir Ahmed.
"French helicopters attacked the area after the ship was freed."
Owned by French charter company CMA-CGM, Le Ponant was en route to the Mediterranean from the Seychelles when pirates boarded the vessel last Friday.
The 32-cabin three-masted vessel used for luxury cruises later anchored off Puntland, a breakaway northern region of Somalia, with a French navy ship in attendance, while negotiations with the pirates took place.
Asked whether France had paid a ransom to secure the release of the crew, Georgelin said no "public funds" were paid to the hostage-takers.
The release of the hostages resulted from a "negotiation between the ship owner and the pirates by radio" and "it's up to the ship owner to reveal if he so desires the nature of these negotiations," said Georgelin.
The 30 crew members -- including six Filipinos, one Ukrainian and a Cameroonian as well as the French sailors -- were headed to Djibouti where France has a large military base, a source there said.
In a statement, Sarkozy expressed "his deep gratitude to the French army forces and all the state services who helped bring about a quick end, without incident, to this hostage taking."
"Not a shot was fired. It all took place calmly," said a French official, who asked not to be named.
Valerie Garrec, whose 20-year-old son Thibaut was among the hostages, praised Sarkozy's handling of the crisis after receiving a call from the president's office announcing the good news.
"They said they were free and safe and we don't know anything more. Now I am waiting to speak to my son by phone," Garrec told AFP from her home in Brittany, northern France.
Experts said the hostages were being held by the "Somali Marines," which they described as the most powerful gang of pirates operating off the coast of Somalia.
France sent a helicopter and navy vessels to the area, but Prime Minister Francois Fillon said authorities would not resort to force.
A French naval warship maintained close surveillance with troops from the French gendarmerie's elite counter-terrorism and hostage rescue unit stationed in nearby Djibouti.
Kouchner on Friday urged the international community to take action to fight piracy in the Gulf of Aden and off the Somali coast and said talks were underway at the United Nations on the issue.
The foreign minister asked the UN Security Council to set up a surveillance system for navigation off the coast of Somalia, saying that some 230 to 300 boats were attacked in that area last year.
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