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Reuters Thu 17 Apr 2008 Abdi Sheikh MOGADISHU, April 17 (Reuters) - Fed up with rampant piracy plaguing their Horn of Africa country, Somalis cheered on Thursday the French troops who captured six pirates. The men, part of a group that stormed a French luxury yacht and held its 30 crew hostage for a week, were flown to France on Wednesday and are being questioned over the April 4 attack. "Pirates are terrorists and should be dealt with accordingly," Sheikh Osman Alasow, a Koranic teacher, told Reuters in the humid, coastal capital Mogadishu. "It would be good if the French commandos punish and force their captives to reveal the names and whereabouts of other pirates hiding in Somalia," he added. French officials said last week France had the right to prosecute the pirates. An initial investigation opened on Monday into "boat hijacking, kidnapping and confinement in an organised gang with ransom payment" which carries a maximum life sentence. Somalia's waters have become among the world's most perilous, despite calls for international action to patrol the shipping lanes. Struggling to end an Islamist-led insurgency and assert its authority, the government has appealed for help to finance and train its own coast guard to protect waters plied by thousands of merchant ships sailing to the Cape of Good Hope every year. "France has done a great job and it would be wise if other powerful countries would follow suit," said Adow Hussein, a 60-year-old khat dealer. "But the problem is some foreign countries ... encourage piracy by directly or indirectly by paying ransom." Somali pirates often justify their actions as measures against illegal fishing and toxic dumping but with more than 30 attacks in 2007 alone -- many for ransom -- it is proving to be a lucrative trade. Hundreds of thousands of dollars are believed to have been paid to pirates in recent months in exchange for the safe return of vessels and their crew. However, housewife Halima Abdi defended the pirates saying they were protecting the coastline from dumping. "They have hijacked ships, yes, but they have not made any trouble inside foreign countries. To imprison them would be an excuse for depriving us of our natural resources," she added.