(CNN) -- Two skiffs sped toward a ship in the Indian Ocean in an apparent pirate attack Wednesday -- without realizing the target was a Dutch warship, military authorities said.

The would-be pirates were making a "fast approach" toward the warship when it fired several warning shots, the European Union Naval Force Somalia said in a news release.

The shots "alerted the 'would-be' pirates to the fact that they were trying to attack a well-armed naval warship," the release said.

The skiffs were stopped and boarded by crew members from the Tromp, a warship of the Royal Netherlands Navy. They found ammunition and a rocket-propelled grenade on the skiffs before destroying them, the naval force said.

They detained 10 suspects before releasing them to a third ship that apparently was associated with the group, it said.

The Dutch warship is part of a European Union anti-piracy task force that escorts merchant vessels and ships carrying humanitarian aid and seeks to combat pirates, many of whom are from Somalia. The task force has ships on patrol in the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean.