Mogadishu: A Somali port official said on Thursday that the bodies of three suspected pirates killed by US snipers in an attack on an American ship were given to authorities in the northeast Puntland region. 

Bossaso port security chief Lt. Col. Mohamed Abdulle Mohamed said the regional government on Thursday collected the bodies from an American ship. 

He said the bodies will be given to senior authorities who hope to return them to their relatives. The names of the three men are not known.