MOGADISHU — Two fishermen were killed and three others wounded in an apparent shooting incident involving a foreign warship off the northeastern coast of Somalia, Somali officials said Sunday.

The incident happened shortly after midnight (2200 GMT Saturday) when three fishing boats were stopped and questioned at sea, the officials said.

The dead men were Somali and Yemeni nationals, they said. The incident happened off the coast of Alula in Puntland.

The governor of Puntland’s Bari province, Muse Gele Farole, said French forces were involved.

“The French forces opened fire on fishermen onboard a fishing boat. A Yemeni sailor and a Somali died and three others were injured, including two Yemenis,” the governor told AFP.

The chiefs of staff of the French armed forces denied any French involvement, while a spokesman for the EU’s anti-piracy force Atalanta said none of its ships were involved.

“No forces from the EU naval force were involved in any incident like this”.

He said nothing had been reported “either from the French side or from the other nations involved in EU-NAVFOR”.

Said Muse, the deputy commander of security forces in Alula, told AFP by phone the fishing vessels were approached by two speed boats.

“The wounded told us they were French forces who carried out the attack, but we are not sure yet,” he said.

“We have collected the wounded and the dead bodies this morning from the area and we are burying the body of the dead Somali now. The Yemenis took the dead sailor to their country hours ago,” said Muse, speaking by phone from a village some 20 kilometres (12 miles) away from the incident.

French tuna trawlers operating in the region have French marines stationed on board to prevent attack. The Spanish government on Friday gave private security firms protecting fishing vessels the authorisation to use greater firepower to prevent piracy.

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