Mogadishu, Somalia ? U.S. sailors boarded a suspected pirate ship in the Indian Ocean and detained 26 men for questioning, the Navy said Sunday.

The 16 Indians and 10 Somali men were aboard a traditional dhow that was chased and seized Saturday by the U.S. guided missile destroyer USS Winston S. Churchill, said Lt. Leslie Hull-Ryde of U.S. Naval Forces Central Command in Bahrain.

The dhow stopped 54 miles off the coast of Somalia after the Churchill fired warning shots, the Navy said. U.S. sailors boarded the ship and seized a cache of small arms.

Sailors aboard the dhow told Navy investigators that pirates hijacked their vessel six days ago near Mogadishu and used it to stage attacks on merchant ships.

The crew and passengers were being questioned aboard the Churchill Sunday to determine which were pirates and which were legitimate crew members, Hull-Ryde said.