The Ponant and its 30 crew had been captured last Friday and the pirates then held talks with the owners of the vessel, the French charter company CMA-CGM, and Somali officials and other sources revealed that a $2m (£1m; 1.3m euros) ransom had been paid for the crew's release.
After the crew had been set free, the French helicopters kept watch over the pirates, and moved in when they saw some of them making an effort to flee, Gen Jean-Louis Georgelin added.
The governor of Mudug, Abdul Kadir Ahmed, however, claimed that three bodies had been recovered after the raid and that eight people had been injured.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy's office denied reports that anyone died or was wounded in the operation and President Nicolas Sarkozy thanked the French military for handling the situation.
