Brussels - The deployment of warships from European Union states against pirates off the coast of Somalia is to begin in December, EU diplomats said Friday.

The final decisions on the matter are to be taken on Monday at a EU foreign ministers' meeting in Brussels.

The operation, to be called Atalanta, is to be led by an admiral from Britain's Northwood naval command, and tasked with protecting freighters against pirate attacks either off the Somali coast or on their way into Mogadishu ports.

The defence against pirates is to include the use of force if necessary, diplomats said. Pirates are not only to be combatted but detained if possible and brought before courts in the countries deploying the war ships.

Details of the deployment are to be decided later.

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization has also deployed warships against the Somali pirates.

The UN Security Council in June approved incursions into Somali waters to combat the pirates and the US Naval Central Command recently set up a security patrol in the area.

However, those measures appear to have had little effect so far, with estimates putting the number of pirates at well over 1,000, compared to only a few hundred in 2005.

Somali authorities and maritime officials say that paying ransoms has only encouraged more pirates to take to the seas.

The surge in piracy has coincided with a rise in violence in Somalia itself, where authorities in the central and southern region are battling a bloody insurgency.

The weak central government has been unable to suppress either the insurgency or the growing piracy.

The UN has authorized the use of force when dealing with pirates and the EU, NATO and other nations, including India, have sent frigates to combat piracy in the Gulf of Aden.

Somalia has been engulfed in chaos and civil war since the fall of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991. (dpa)