Sana'a, Yemen - Yemeni coast guard authorities on Wednesday received 23 suspected pirates, including 11 Yemenis, arrested by the Indian Navy in an anti-piracy operation in the Gulf of Aden earlier this week, Yemeni officials said.

The officials told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa that an Indian warship handed over the suspects to Yemeni officials off the southern Yemeni port of Aden.

Yemen on Monday had asked India to hand over the 11 Yemenis who were arrested, along with 12 Somali suspects, by the Indian warship INS Mysore warship on December 13.

The ship foiled an attack on an Ethiopian merchant vessel and arrested the pirates about 160 nautical miles east of the Aden port.

Yemen's Defence Ministry has said authorities need to ascertain the men's identities and put them on trial if claims about their involvement in piracy acts were accurate.

Piracy in the Gulf of Aden has surged in recent months as Somalia descends further into chaos and the ineffectual central government continues to squabble rather than govern.

Around 17 ships and 300 crew members are currently in the hands of pirates, including a Saudi supertanker carrying crude oil worth 100 million dollars and a Ukrainian ship carrying a cargo of 33 tanks and other military equipment. (dpa)