Nairobi - A French warship delivered 11 Somalis accused of piracy to the Kenyan port of Mombasa on Wednesday as the trial of another nine suspected pirates apprehended by the German navy got underway in the town.

French commandos from the warships Nivose captured the men last week as they attempted to board the Liberian tanker Safmarine Asia in the Indian Ocean.

The men delivered by the Nivose were immediately taken away by the police and are expected to appear in court on Thursday.

Under a deal with the European Union, Kenya has pledged to try pirates detained by warships serving with an EU mission to combat attacks on merchant shipping off the Somalia coast.

The trial of nine men being tried under that deal got underway on Wednesday. The men were arrested early in March when a German navy ship responded to a distress call from the German merchant vessel MV Courier.

Germany also delivered another seven suspected pirates to Kenya earlier this month after they attacked the German navy tanker Spessart.

The men on trial were apprehended by the frigate Rheinland Pfalz after they attacked the MV Courier with rocket-propelled grenades and automatic weapons.

German Ambassador to Kenya Walter Lindner attended the hearing, where the court heard testimony from a helicopter pilot attached to another cruiser.

Kenyan radio station Capital FM quoted pilot Anthony Graham as telling the court how his team fired at the suspected pirates, who were on board a small skiff and shooting at the MV Courier, prior to the arrival of the Rheinland Pfalz.

The pirates' lawyer, Jared Magolo, asked the court to visit the scene of the crime in an attempt to query whether Kenya had jurisdiction in the case. The request was denied.

The prosecutions in Kenya are seen as a crucial in dealing with the pirates, who operate in international waters under hazy legal conditions.

Dutch and Canadian vessels who caught two separate groups of pirates at the weekend were forced to release their captives as their laws did not provide for their prosecution.

A teenage pirate who was allegedly part of the gang that hijacked the US-flagged Maersk Alabama is also on trial in the US.

The case continues on Thursday.

Pirate activity began to pick up in March after a lull due to bad weather, with dozens of ships being attacked. Around 15 ships and 250 crew members are being held hostage.

The highest-profile attack in recent weeks was the failed hijacking of the Alabama.

The Alabama's crew repelled the hijacking but the captain was held hostage for five days on a lifeboat. He was freed Sunday when US Navy snipers killed the three pirates holding him.

In 2008, pirates seized more than 40 vessels in and around the Gulf of Aden and collected tens of millions of dollars in ransoms, prompting the international community to send warships to the region.

The presence of the warships, which patrol an area of about 2.85 million square kilometres, has had little effect. Observers say that only by tackling insecurity and poverty in Somalia will piracy finally be halted.

Somalia has been without a functioning government since the 1991 ouster of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre. (dpa)