Singapore - Singapore will send a landing ship tank, with two Super Puma helicopters, to the Gulf of Aden as part of its contribution to the international community's anti-piracy efforts, the city state's parliament was told Thursday.

Defence Minister Teo Chee Hean said the Singapore ship would be deployed for three months with the newly formed multi-national Combined Task Force 151 to protect shipping in the Gulf of Aden. The ship and helicopters would be deployed once the operational arrangements have been made.

Singapore, as a maritime nation, shares the concerns of the international community regarding piracy, explained Teo, stressing that the island city was committed to supporting international efforts to keep the sea lanes safe and secure.

He also pointed out that it was not possible for any country, including Singapore, to protect its own shipping in all the key sea lanes of the world.

Hence all countries would have to depend on international cooperation to secure the sea lanes for everyone's use and that means littoral states, user states, and the international community would have a role to play, the Channel News Asia cited Teo as saying.

Singapore joins NATO, the European Union, the US, as well as countries such as China, India, Malaysia and Russia, in the anti-piracy efforts in the Gulf of Aden. Other countries, including Japan and Turkey, would also send their naval ships to the Gulf, where pirates have attacked more than 100 ships and collected 120 million US dollars in ransom. (dpa)