Beijing - A Chinese naval fleet set sail from the southern port of Sanya on Friday afternoon bound for Somalia, where it will join international anti-piracy operations, the government and state media said.

The two destroyers and a supply ship will arrive in the Gulf of Aden off Somalia in about 10 days to begin an initial three-month anti-piracy escort mission, the official Xinhua news agency said.

The People's Liberation Army (PLA) naval fleet is carrying about 800 crew, including 70 special forces soldiers, and is equipped with missiles, cannons and light weapons, the agency said.

It will escort Chinese ships, including those from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, and respond to any requests for assistance from foreign vessels.

Crowds gathered at a naval dock in Sanya on Friday to see off the destroyers Wuhan and Haikou and the supply ship Weishanhu.

The ships will begin protection duties from January 6 and will also aid ships undertaking humanitarian relief missions for international organizations.

The PLA navy plans to send replacement ships "at an appropriate time, depending on the situation and the UN Security Council," the agency said.

Foreign ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said earlier this week that 1,265 Chinese commercial vessels had passed through the Gulf of Aden this year and that pirates had attacked seven of them.

Somali pirates were still holding one Chinese fishing boat with 18 crew, Liu said.

A Chinese ship with 30 crew was rescued from pirates off the coast off Somalia by international naval forces on December 17.

The UN Security Council earlier this month adopted its third resolution of the year authorizing states to take enhanced and "robust action," and coordinate to fight piracy off the coast of Somalia.

Some NATO countries, Russia, India and Malaysia are also involved in the international fight against piracy. dpa( )