It said a helicopter from the frigate Victoria, participating in the European Union's new task force in the region, fired warning shots at the pirate vessel.

The Victoria first received an alert from a Cypriot-registered bulk carrier, the Jolbos, on Thursday afternoon saying it had come under attack from pirates, the ministry said in a statement.

The helicopter pilot then contacted the crew, who said their vessel had come under rocket fire but that they had taken evasive action to avoid the pirates.

The pirates then approached another merchant ship, the UAE-registered Dubai, but were scared off by warning shots from the helicopter, the statement said.

Spain last month authorised the deployment of the Victoria, which has 210 military personnel on board, to the waters off Somalia as part of the EU's Operation Atalanta against maritime piracy.

Pirates attacked more than 130 merchant ships in the Gulf of Aden last year, an increase of more than 200 percent on 2007, according to the International Maritime Bureau, which tracks piracy and shipping security issues.

More than 150 suspected pirates were arrested by naval patrols in the Gulf in 2008.

Heavily armed pirates operate high-powered speedboats and sometimes hold ships for weeks before releasing them for large ransoms paid by governments or ship owners.

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