The U.S. Navy apprehended nine suspected pirates early Thursday morning in the western region of the Gulf of Aden, Navy 5th Fleet spokesman Lt. Nate Christensen told FOX News.
This is the second day in a row that the U.S. Navy has captured suspected pirates in the Gulf of Aden.
Missile cruiser USS Vella Gulf responded to a distress call from an Indian flagged motor ship named Premdivya that was being attacked by pirates.
The Vella responded by launching a helicopter that fired warning shots in the vicinity of the pirates who were traveling in a small skiff.
The pirates stopped their attempts to flee after the second shot and then members of the USS Mahan, which was acting in support of the Vella Gulf, boarded the skiff and apprehended the nine suspects, all believed to be from Somalia.
The seized suspects have since been transferred to the USNS Lewis and Clark along with the seven that were captured Wednesday. They will be sent to the government of Kenya as soon as the Navy compiles all the evidence it needs, according to Pentagon Spokesman Bryan Whitman.
The men, who were not allowed to talk to each other, were given a meal, a blanket and a towel and bar of soap with which to take a shower. With the help of a translator, U.S. forces were trying to get information from the men such as their ages and nationalities.
The men were then to be taken to a makeshift holding area surrounded by razor wire, where they were watched by American forces.
This marks the second capture in two days and the first time that Task Force 151 will send pirates to Kenya for prosecution following a newly signed agreement with the Kenyan government. It is a U.N. resolution that gives the U.S. Navy the right to apprehend pirates in international waters.
FOX News' Justin Fishel and Jennifer Griffin and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
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