A parachute reportedly carrying ransom floats down onto the MV Sirius Star at anchor in this U.S. Navy photo issued Friday, Jan. 9, 2009. (U.S. Navy/Associated Press)

Somali pirates released a Saudi supertanker Friday after receiving $3 million US in ransom, a negotiator for the pirates said.

Mohamed Said, a negotiator with the pirates, told the Associated Press by telephone that the MV Sirius Star has been released and was travelling to "safe waters."

Pirates captured the oil tanker nearly two months ago.

The U.S. Navy issued a photo taken by one of its air crew apparently showing the ransom dropping from a small plane onto the ship's deck.

The ship owner, Vela International Marine Ltd., declined to comment on the reported release, but a regional maritime group said the vessel had been freed.

"The last batch of gunmen have disembarked from the Sirius Star. She is now steaming out to safe waters," Andrew Mwangura, of the East African Seafarers Assistance Program, based in the Kenyan port of Mombasa, told Reuters.

The U.S. 5th Fleet in Bahrain would not explicitly confirm the release of the tanker, but Lt. Virginia Newman, a spokeswoman for the Combined Maritime Forces based in Bahrain, said it was likely that "a considerable sum" had been paid in ransom.

The vessel was carrying a cargo of crude oil worth more than $100 million when captured in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Kenya in mid-November.

New force patrols

Meanwhile, a new international naval force under U.S. command is set to begin patrolling the area next week to stem the growing problem of pirates. More than 100 ships came under siege last year, the U.S. navy said Thursday.

The force, however, will not carry any wider authority to strike pirate vessels at sea or move against havens on shore, powers that maritime experts say are necessary to weaken the gangs.

The rise in pirate attacks caused a "situation where there were competing priorities" between counterterrorism missions in the region and protecting merchant ships, said air force Lt.-Col. Patrick Ryder, a Pentagon spokesman in Washington.

The Sirius Star conducts a trial run off South Korea in this undated photo. (Daewoo/Associated Press)

More than 20 nations are expected to take part in the mission, which will be headed by U.S. navy Rear Admiral Terence McKnight. U.S. officials refused to list the countries.

There are currently more than a dozen warships in the waters off Somalia, including from the U.S., Britain, Russia, China, India and Iran.

At least 111 ships were targeted and 42 commandeered last year off the Horn of Africa, including the Saudi supertanker and a Ukrainian cargo ship loaded with tanks and heavy weapons.

At least two more ships were hijacked this month, leaving about 15 vessels and 300 crew members in pirate hands, according to the International Maritime Bureau's piracy reporting centre.

With files from the Associated Press