But there were contradictory reports about whether the Maltese-flagged vessel had actually been released, and the Ukrainian government denied it.

The Ariana was carrying 24 Ukrainian crew when it was seized on May 2 north of the capital Mogadishu. The ship belongs to All Oceans shipping in Greece.

Last month, the pirates said they had agreed a $3.5 million ransom and expected to release the vessel soon.

"After days of negotiations we freed the Greek ship Ariana today," an associate of the gang named Abdinor told Reuters by telephone from the coastal town of Haradheere.

"It will be sailing away in the next few hours, I hope.".

A senior diplomat at the Ukrainian embassy in Nairobi, Kenya, said the report was incorrect, but gave no other details.

Heavily armed Somali pirates have plagued the busy shipping lanes off the Horn of Africa for several years. Foreign warships from 16 countries are in the area to try to prevent hijackings, Reuters reported.

 Meanwhile, the owners of a Greek ship hijacked more than six months ago off the coast of Somalia denied Thursday it had been released by Somali pirates. "It is not true. The ship is still there, in the pirates' possession," Spyros Minas, head of Alloceans shipping, told Reuters.

EU anti-piracy escorts off Somalia are working, but piracy cannot be eliminated unless its root causes on land - including poverty and Somalia's failed state - are tackled too, the European parliament said on Thursday, adding that all vessels should register for protection.

Operation NAVFOR Atalanta is contributing successfully to maritime security off the coast of Somalia, inter alia by protecting 50 World Food Programme ships delivering food aid to Somalia, says a resolution adopted by European Parliament on Thursday by 479 votes to 96, with 54 abstentions.

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