(UNITED NATIONS) - The UN Security Council on Tuesday expressed its support for a European naval mission to begin December 8 aimed at ending increased piracy off the coast of Somalia.

In a unanimous vote, the 15-member Security Council passed resolution 1846 which "strongly welcomes the decision by the EU" on November 10 to launch an anti-piracy mission.

The EU operation, dubbed Atalanta, will see around seven warships patrol Somalia's Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean waters, where a spike in piracy is threatening to choke one of the world's busiest maritime trade routes.

French ambassador Jean-Maurice Ripert hailed the text's passage as providing "a legal basis for the launching of operation Atalanta," adding that the Security Council "is sending a very strong signal of its determination to fight piracy."

The European mission is aimed at protecting ships that bear goods for the World Food Program to feed some three million Somalis who depend on food aid, as well as escorting shipping frigates in the area.

EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana has said that "the mission will have rules of engagement that will be robust and all means to protect, to deter, and will include the use of force."

The European naval force, backed by patrolling aircraft, will be commanded by British forces.

The Security Council's resolution also said it "welcomes the decision by NATO to counter piracy off the Somalia coast."

In accordance with a UN request, NATO sent four ships (Italian, Greek, British and Turkish) into the Gulf of Aden waters to patrol. The EU operation is to take over from them next week.

Monday's Security Council resolution marked the third time in six months that the 15-member council has adopted a text regarding piracy off the Somali coast, where increasing numbers of ships face piracy.

Resolution 1846 permits for one year the right of international warships to "use, within the territorial waters of Somalia ... all necessary means to repress acts of piracy and armed robbery at sea... in a manner consistent with such action permitted on the high seas with respect to piracy under international law."

Somalia's Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean waters have seen nearly 100 vessels attacked this year.

More than a dozen foreign merchant vessels and their crew are currently being held by gunmen on the lawless Somali coast.

Piracy is rife in the region where Somalia's northeastern tip juts into the Indian Ocean, preying on a key maritime route leading to the Suez Canal through which an estimated 30 percent of the world's oil transits.

The pirates operate high-powered speedboats and are heavily armed, sometimes holding ships for weeks until they are released for large ransoms paid by governments or owners.

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