Hargeisa (AX) — Police in the North Western State of Somalia registered 82 murder cases and 254 rape incidents across the region during 2026, according to official data released on Tuesday.
Security officials confirmed that suspects had been arrested in connection with 78 of the murder cases, while four other suspects remain at large and are being sought.
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The report also showed that 23 cases involving abandoned or dumped children were registered during the same year.
Police did not provide a breakdown showing how the murder, rape and child abandonment cases varied across the regions, making it difficult to determine where most violations occurred.
Meanwhile, the administration did not disclose the number of suspects arrested in connection with the 254 rape cases, and it provided no information on how many investigations resulted in formal charges or were brought before the courts.
These figures reflect only cases reported to and investigated by the police and cannot be considered a complete measure of all crimes that actually occurred that year. Sexual abuse is often concealed because of social stigma, fear of retaliation and barriers to accessing formal justice.
The legal system in the North Western State of Somalia criminalizes rape and other sexual offences, although previous investigations have pointed to enforcement challenges, with such cases sometimes being settled through customary law instead of being referred to civil courts.
Police data provided no details about the circumstances that led to the abandonment of the 23 children, nor is it known how they are currently faring or where they ended up.
Officials did not present comparative data for 2025, making it impossible to determine whether murder, rape and child abandonment cases increased or declined in 2026.
