"The Puntland regional government received eight pirates from the French navy, who intercepted them while they were attacking a commercial vessel," Puntland assistant minister for seaports Abdelkadir Musa Yusuf told reporters.

"They will be charged for their crimes according to criminal law. This is the second time the French navy has transferred captured pirates to Puntland," he said.

The Premier Maitre L'Her, a French frigate patrolling the waters as part of a European Union taskforce, intercepted the pirates on Thursday after twice responding to a distress call from the Panamanian-flagged S. Venus.

In October, the French navy handed over nine suspected pirates to Puntland.

Another 12 suspected pirates are currently being held in France. They were arrested during two separate operations to free the crew of two French yachts in April and September 2008.

The assistant minister praised France for combating piracy, which has wreaked panic in world shipping by turning the Gulf of Aden into the world's most dangerous waters, and for handing over suspects.

"The French navy is cooperating and they are the only ones who are sending prisoners to Somalia," he said, talking to reporters in Bosasso, Puntland's main port on the Gulf of Aden.

In November, the British navy handed over eight suspected pirates to the authorities of Kenya and in December signed a memorandum of understanding providing a legal framework for such cooperation.

Somalia is not party to any of the treaties and conventions regulating the world's waters and many of the nations represented in the naval coalitions patrolling pirate-infested zones have been reluctant to send suspects there.

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