FILE – Cameroon-flagged M/V LUTUF general cargo ship crossing the Bosporus. The vessel was hijacked off Puntland State in August 2026 while transporting Turkish weapons and communications equipment bound for Mogadishu.
Garowe (AX) — An airstrike on Puntland State’s coast killed at least nine people Sunday, local officials said, as authorities investigate the attack and the force behind it remains unknown.
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The strike took place in the coastal area of Jiifle, within Godob-Jiraan district in the Nugaal region, according to Godob-Jiraan Mayor Keynaan Abdi.
No country or military force has claimed responsibility for the strike. Local sources, however, said the Cameroon-flagged M/V LUTUF, hijacked by pirates last week, had been brought to the area several days before the attack.
Puntland State’s Ministry of Information said it had not received official details but had opened an investigation.
“We do not have much information. This information requires extensive follow-up. I hope that the investigation will be carried out in the coming days,” Puntland State Deputy Minister of Information Bile Mahmoud Qabowsade said.
Pirates seized the M/V LUTUF on Aug. 17 near the Marraya area of Puntland State’s Eyl district.
An official told The Associated Press that the vessel was captured roughly 3½ nautical miles from shore. It was believed to be carrying weapons for a Turkish military training center in Mogadishu, as well as communications and satellite equipment.
The ship’s 10-person crew consists of six Indian nationals, one Turkish citizen, one Georgian national and two Serbian security guards.
The latest attack follows another reported drone strike in Puntland State that killed suspected pirates, adding to growing security concerns in the Indian Ocean waters off Somalia.
Responsibility for the latest strikes has not been established, though reports have indicated that Turkish naval vessels are operating in the area. Turkey has demanded the release of the M/V LUTUF.
The BBC said it contacted Turkey’s Foreign Ministry on Aug. 19 about an earlier airstrike, but officials told the broadcaster they had no information about the operation. Somalia’s federal government has likewise made no public statement on the attacks.
Abdifatah Yusuf Diiriye, a Jiifle resident who went to the site, told the BBC he saw eight bodies whose faces were difficult to identify.
“There were men killed there. They were on a boat, and we don’t know where the boat came from, and we can’t confirm whether they were fishermen or going for something else,” he said.
Diiriye said the victims appeared to have been hit by a missile and sustained severe burns. He added that some local youths on the boat were known in the community as fishermen.
The attack has alarmed residents of the coastal community, where the victims’ identities and the events leading to their deaths remain unresolved.
The M/V LUTUF hijacking came after another commercial vessel was recently seized in the region. The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations said last week that armed men had taken control of a cargo ship in the Gulf of Aden and redirected it toward Somalia.
The vessel was reportedly captured about 136 nautical miles east of Yemen and was being steered toward the Somali coast.
Puntland State’s Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources said it was closely tracking the rise in piracy incidents along the Puntland State coast and in nearby waters. The ministry said it had also intensified maritime security and enforcement operations.
Preliminary information indicated that groups based outside Puntland State were trying to recruit and provide financial support to people and networks previously linked to piracy, the ministry said.
The ministry warned that anyone involved in piracy would face appropriate action. It also urged shipowners, operators and insurance companies not to negotiate directly with pirate groups or pay ransoms.
“Such funds provide these criminal networks with the resources and incentive to continue their operations and risk encouraging the emergence of additional pirate groups,” the ministry said.
The renewed piracy has fueled wider concerns over maritime security across the region. Some defense analysts have suggested that Yemen’s Houthi rebels might seek cooperation with pirate networks to disrupt shipping in the Red Sea, although no confirmed public evidence links the Houthis to the recent hijackings.
– With files from the BBC Somali Service
