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PARIS — The French Defense Ministry said it detained 11 pirates during a French assault on a pirate “mother ship” and thwarted a pirate attack on a Liberian-registered vessel.

The ministry says French forces launched an attack on a 30-foot-long pirate mother ship early Wednesday after observing the pirates overnight.

The 11 pirates are being held upon the Nivose, a French frigate taking part in a European mission to protect shipping in the Gulf of Aden. A French surveillance helicopter spotted the pirates’ mother ship Tuesday.

The ship was intercepted 550 miles east of the Kenyan port of Mombasa.

Earlier, pirates attacked a U.S.-flagged cargo ship with rocket-propelled grenades but were repelled.

The 738-foot-long Liberty Sun sustained damage in the pirates’ attack with grenades and automatic weapons off the Somali coast, operator Liberty Maritime Corp. said Tuesday.

The ship was carrying American food aid from Houston to Mombasa, Kenya, and had already unloaded “thousands of tons” in Port Sudan during its voyage, the company said.

The USS Bainbridge — the same U.S. Navy destroyer involved in this week’s rescue of Capt. Richard Phillips, the American merchant captain held hostage by Somali pirates — was sent to the scene after receiving an alert from the Liberty Sun, and found that the attack was repelled without injuries, according to Capt. Jack Hanzlik of U.S. Central Command. The pirates fled, and both U.S. ships continued on their way.

“We commend the entire crew for its professionalism and poise under fire,” Liberty Maritime, Lake Success, N.Y., said in a statement.

A pirate whose gang attacked the aid ship told the Associated Press Wednesday that his group was targeting American ships and sailors.

“We will seek out the Americans and if we capture them we will slaughter them,” said a 25-year-old pirate based in the Somali port of Harardhere who gave only his first name, Ismail.

“We will target their ships because we know their flags. Last night, an American-flagged ship escaped us by a whisker. We have showered them with rocket-propelled grenades,” said Ismail, who did not take part in the attack on the Liberty Sun.

Attacks on U.S. ships had been rare in the region. On Sunday, Navy Seals killed three pirates holding the captain of the U.S.-flagged Maersk Alabama. Capt. Phillips and his crew are expected to arrive at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland late Wednesday on a chartered flight from Mombasa, Kenya, said Maersk Line Ltd., a unit of A.P. Møller-Maersk AS.

Elsewhere Tuesday, pirates seized the MV Irene in the Gulf of Aden between 1 a.m. and 2 a.m. local time, about 100 miles southwest of Al Mukalla, Yemen, according to the U.S. Fifth Fleet in Bahrain and pirate trackers. The vessel — flagged in the Caribbean island nation of St. Vincent and the Grenadines — was managed by a Greek company and crewed by more than 20 sailors.

Later in the day, the Togo-flagged freighter MV Sea Horse was hijacked off the coast of Somalia, east of Mogadishu, the Navy said. As pirates approached, the Sea Horse made radio contact with the Canadian warship Winnipeg, sailing under the command of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, according to a NATO spokeswoman.

The Winnipeg sent a helicopter, but by the time it got near the freighter, pirates had taken control of the vessel. The chopper confirmed the seizure by radio and headed back to the Winnipeg.

NATO ships have a policy of not engaging with hijacked ships unless fired upon, said spokeswoman Shona Lowe. They can fire at pirates before they board ships, she said.

“For NATO, it’s not a case of chasing pirates across the high seas,” she said. NATO’s priority is “the crew’s safety, so we need to be careful.”  Pirates seized the cargo ship MV Irene, shown in an undated file photo, during the early morning hours Tuesday in the Gulf of Aden.

Two Egyptian fishing vessels were confirmed to have been commandeered on Friday, according to the International Maritime Bureau’s Piracy Reporting Centre in Kuala Lumpur. Egypt’s foreign ministry said Tuesday that the combined crew on the two boats was as many as 24, according to the Associated Press.

The International Maritime Bureau put out a special warning to mariners after the Egyptian boats were confirmed captured because pirates could be using the two Egyptian boats as so-called mother ships.

Pirates have used other fishing boats, particularly large trawlers, as command ships, dispatching and coordinating smaller skiffs to attack vessels. By using mother ships, pirates have been able to extend their reach hundreds of miles off the coast of Somalia.

“We are warning vessels to be vigilant” and watch for the two fishing boats, said Noel Choong, the reporting center’s director. Mr. Choong said he expects attacks to continue despite the recent naval action.

“The risks are low and the rewards are high, so of course they are going to continue,” he said.

Last week, the French navy killed two pirates and one hostage as they freed a sailing yacht commandeered by pirates.

So far this year, pirates have attacked 78 ships, successfully hijacking 19. Seventeen ships, with at least 285 sailors, are currently being held for ransom in the area, according to statistics compiled by Mr. Choong’s organization.

– The Associated Press, Chip Cummins, Louise Radnofsky and John W. Miller contributed to this article.

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