Berlin - Germany is ready to contribute up to 1,400 military personnel to a European Union security mission to combat piracy off the coast of Somalia, a leading daily reported Tuesday.

The Frankfurter Allgemeine said the defence ministry had given the green light for the troops and sailors to take part in Operation Atalanta, due to be launched around mid-December.

Some 500 naval personnel would be based on a frigate patrolling the Horn of Africa and the remainder would be commandos providing security on German-owned merchant vessels in the region, the report said.

The EU mission would comprise seven ships backed by surveillance aircraft and will be under the command of British Rear-Admiral Philip Jones.

Some 63 incidents of piracy have been recorded in waters off the Somali Coast and the Gulf of Aden in the first nine months of this year, according to the International Maritime Bureau.

In the latest incident, Somali pirates hijacked a Yemeni cargo ship in the Arabian Sea and demanded 2 million dollars as ransom for its release, maritime sources in Aden said on Tuesday.

Pirates also seized a fully laden Saudi supertanker around 830 kilometres south-east of the Kenyan port of Mombasa over a week ago and are demanding 15 million dollars for its release.

The pirates reportedly moved the vessel and its 100-million- dollar cargo to a new location this week after receiving threats from an Islamist insurgent group. (dpa)