Almotamar.net, Saba - Twelve Somalis made on Tuesday court appearances in Yemen over piracy charges. The Specialized Penal Court started the first hearing in their trial, accusing them of hijacking a Yemeni oil tanker in April, fighting the authorities while trying to recover the tanker, and killing one of the crew members.

Another crew member went missing in the release operation.

On April 27, Yemen's navy released an oil tanker hijacked earlier by Somali pirates in the pirate-plagued Gulf of Aden, naval sources said.

A soldier and five of the crew onboard the tanker were injured, the sources said.

Early in the day, naval forces carried out a release operation which resulted in recovering the tanker, releasing the crew and the arrest of 11 pirates.

Two pirates were killed and one injured as marine troops clashed with pirates to retake over the tanker, Qana, sources at the Defense Ministry said.

The tanker was returning to the southern port city of Aden from Mukalla province where it had unloaded its cargo when pirates took it.

Earlier, two pirates were killed, one injured and four arrested as Yemeni naval forces freed three ships which Somali pirates hijacked off Aden.

Troops used helicopters to hunt pirates and retake over ships.

The hijacking was the latest in a series of recent pirate attacks in the Indian Ocean.

Many pirates have been captured as NATO forces patrolling the Gulf of Aden freed seized ships and prevented attempted attacks against others.