Garowe (AX) — Puntland State authorities have blamed Türkiye for a series of deadly strikes off Somalia’s Nugaal coast after pirates seized the M/V Lutuf, while also alleging that Somalia’s federal government was involved.
Speaking to BBC Somali on Thursday, Puntland State Deputy Security Minister Abdirahman Yusuf Dujaana said the regional administration held Türkiye responsible for the attacks and suspected federal government involvement.
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Abdirahman offered no independent evidence identifying those behind the strikes, and no government, military force or armed group has publicly claimed responsibility.
“We are fighting pirates, but people have rights. People cannot be killed,” he said.
He said Puntland State possessed evidence and intelligence concerning Turkish activity linked to the vessel and the surrounding waters.
The reported attacks came after pirates hijacked the Cameroon-flagged M/V Lutuf on Aug. 17.
A Somali official told The Associated Press that the ship was transporting weapons from Türkiye, communications equipment and a satellite system to a Turkish military training center in Mogadishu.
The pirates were said to have forced the ship and its crew toward the Nugaal coastline.
On Aug. 18, four people were reported dead and two wounded in an airstrike near Garmaal, after a small boat came ashore from the hijacked vessel.
Initial reports identified the victims as suspected pirates.
However, relatives and several residents said the dead were fishermen, disputing that characterization.
Another fatal airstrike was reported on Aug. 23 in the Jiifle area of Godobjiran district.
The district’s mayor said nine people died in the attack.
A resident who went to the site said he saw eight severely burned bodies. He said some of the young men aboard the boat were known local fishermen, but he could not establish why they were at sea or whether everyone on board had any connection to piracy.
BBC Somali said it asked Türkiye about allegations that civilians had been killed in the strikes. A Turkish Foreign Ministry official responded that Ankara had no information about the attacks.
On Aug. 22, Somalia’s State Minister for Defense, Omar Ali Abdi, told local media that the federal government knew about military operations and shelling off Puntland State’s coast.
He said officials were working on a comprehensive report.
Abdirahman said the political rift between Puntland State and the federal government had made joint efforts against piracy more difficult.
He alleged that the federal government was involved in the incidents but did not present independent evidence supporting the accusation.
He also said Puntland State was probing criminal networks believed to assist pirates.
According to Abdirahman, Puntland State had detained foreign nationals carrying GPS devices and computers allegedly used to monitor ships hundreds of miles offshore.
He said Puntland State had the forces and equipment required to confront piracy on land and at sea, but that operations were complicated by the presence of hostages aboard the vessels.
“The people they are holding hostage should not be harmed,” he said.
– With files from the BBC Somali Service
