A cargo ship carrying Turkish weapons was seized by pirates off Somalia’s Puntland State coast, with its 10-member crew and cargo taken toward the Nugaal region, a Somali official said Thursday.
An armed pirate looks at a cargo ship anchored offshore in northeastern SomaliaMOHAMED DAHIR / AFP / Getty Images
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MOGADISHU, Somalia — The Cameroon-flagged M/V LUTUF was hijacked Monday off Puntland State and moved toward the Nugaal coast, according to a Somali official who spoke to The Associated Press.
The vessel was captured about 3½ nautical miles from Marraya, in Puntland State’s Eyl district, the official said. He requested anonymity because he was not authorized to publicly discuss sensitive information.
The ship, owned by Polar Movement Shipping, was transporting weapons to a Turkish military training facility in Mogadishu, along with communications and satellite equipment, the official said.
The crew consisted of six Indians, one Turkish citizen, one Georgian national and two Serbian security guards, he said.
Turkish authorities did not immediately comment on the reported hijacking.
Eight pirates, believed to belong to a group previously linked to the April 26 hijacking of the M/V Sward, took the vessel toward the coast near Garmaal, in Puntland State’s Dangoroyo district.
Two Turkish-owned vessels later moved toward the hijacked ship, while Turkish helicopters and drones tracked the area, the official said. On Tuesday, a small boat carrying two men approached the vessel and delivered khat, a stimulant widely chewed in Somalia, he said.
The boat then returned to shore, after which an airstrike killed four men and injured two others, the official said.
It was not immediately possible to independently establish who conducted the strike or whether the men killed had taken part in the hijacking. The condition of the LUTUF, its crew and its cargo also remained unclear. The AP could not independently verify all elements of the official’s account.
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Suzan Fraser contributed to this report from Ankara, Turkey.
