EU hoping to attack pirates both at sea and on land

(BRUSSELS) - The EU is mulling plans to attack Somalia's pirate gangs on land as well as at sea as it extends its Atalanta mission for an extra two years, diplomatic sources said Wednesday.

Foreign ministers gathering in Brussels on Monday are expected to announce a two-year extension to end 2014 of Operation Atalanta, also known as EU NAVFOR Somalia, the sources said.

Discussions meanwhile are continuing on fine-tuning "an enlargement of the area of operations of the anti-piracy mission to the beach," an EU diplomat said.

Though not boots on the ground, "we must do something," another source said. "The pirates have trucks, supplies, boats, fuel, on the beaches. They must be disrupted."

Atalanta, typically consisting of a handful of surface combat vessels plus one or two back-up ships and two to three reconnaissance aircraft, is tasked with escorting merchant vessels carrying humanitarian aid to Somalia while detering and disrupting piracy.

Since its launch it has arrested and sent for prosecution 117 suspected pirates and last year alone disrupted 27 pirate action groups.

EU nations believe beach operations launched from sea or air, and if agreed by the Somali government and the United Nations, would bolster the anti-piracy mission.

But Germany, which has troops active in the mission, needs further information on rules of engagement before Berlin can greenlight any operational extension, sources said.