A Somali official says foreign naval forces in international waters shot dead two pirates and wounded another when the bandits attempted to hijack a ship on Saturday.
Ahmed Abdullahi, an official with the anti-piracy force in the semi-autonomous Puntland region, said the two killed men were part of a group of nine pirates in a boat approaching an unidentified ship near the Gulf of Aden when a naval force opened fire on them.
He said the six other pirates survived the attack and escaped.
Residents in Durduri, a coastal village in Sanaag region, said that on Sunday morning they found two dead bodies, apparently left by the pirates, near the coast.
In recent weeks there has been a resurgence of piracy off Somalia's coast, after five years of inactivity.