( CNN ) -- Five people were detained off Somalia 's coast Wednesday after pirates mistook a French ship involved in an anti-piracy operation for a commercial vessel , the French Defense Ministry said . A German-flagged warship taking part in the EU 's anti-piracy mission is pictured in this April 2009 file photo . There were no injuries as a result of the attack on the BCR Somme , the ministry said . The pirates opened fire at midnight local time , about 250 nautical miles ( 463 kilometers ) off Somalia 's coast , officials added . An hour after the attack , the French command and supply ship chased down one of the pirates ' skiffs , and detained five suspected pirates , it said . A second skiff involved in the attack got away . The BCR Somme was carrying supplies off Somalia 's coast to forces involved in the European anti-piracy operation , called `` Atalante , '' the ministry said . Europe and other Western powers have stepped up their maritime patrols off Somalia 's coast following a spate of pirate attacks over the past year . Somalia 's transitional government , which has a tenuous grip on power , has been unable to stop the pirates , many of whom are based in Somalia 's port cities . Those who have tracked pirate activity say it started in the 1980s in Somalia , when the pirates claimed they were aiming to stop the rampant illegal fishing and dumping that continues to this day off the Somali coast . Piracy accelerated after the fall of the Somali government in the early 1990s and began to flourish after shipping companies started paying ransoms . Those payments started out being in the tens of thousands of dollars and have since climbed into the millions . Some experts say companies are simply making the problem worse by paying the pirates .
Pirates fire on French ship involved in anti-piracy operation off Somali coast . Command and supply ship chased down a skiff ; detaining 5 suspected pirates . Score: 7