MOGADISHU (Somaliguardian) – Puntland authorities have strongly condemned an airstrike near Garmaal on Somalia’s northeastern coast that killed four people and wounded two others, saying the victims were civilian fishermen and warning that attacks against civilians could seriously damage cooperation between Puntland’s security agencies and international partners fighting piracy.
The Puntland Ministry of Security, in a statement issued Friday, said the government opposed military strikes by international forces against civilians and their property in coastal areas where hijacked vessels are being held.
Puntland called on the government responsible for the operation to provide an immediate explanation of the motive behind the strikes reported around Garmaal on August 19 and 20. The ministry did not identify the country involved.
The statement comes amid mounting scrutiny of an airstrike that followed the August 17 hijacking of the Cameroon-flagged cargo vessel M/V LUTUF off Puntland. According to reporting based on a Somali official, the vessel was seized near Marraya in Puntland’s Eyl district and was subsequently taken toward the Nugaal coast near Garmaal in Dangoroyo district.
The LUTUF was reportedly carrying Turkish weapons, communications equipment and satellite equipment destined for a Turkish military training facility in Mogadishu. Its 10-member crew included six Indians, one Turkish national, one Georgian and two Serbian security guards, according to the Somali official cited by the Associated Press.
Deadly strike followed the hijacking
The sequence of events has placed the strike under intense scrutiny.
The pirates who seized the LUTUF were believed to be members of a group previously linked to the April hijacking of the M/V Sward. After taking control of the vessel, they reportedly moved it toward the coast near Garmaal. Turkish-owned vessels subsequently approached the area, while Turkish helicopters and drones were reported to have monitored the hijacked ship.
On Tuesday, according to the Somali official cited by AP, a small boat carrying a number of men approached the hijacked vessel and delivered khat. After the boat returned toward the shore, an airstrike followed, killing four men and wounding two others.
Initial reports described those killed as suspected pirates. Subsequent local accounts, however, identified them as fishermen, while Puntland authorities said the victims were civilians. Other reporting has noted that the identities and affiliations of those killed have not been independently established.
That distinction is central to the controversy.
If the victims were indeed civilians with no role in the hijacking, the strike would represent a grave incident involving the protection of coastal communities already living alongside a resurgent piracy threat. Puntland authorities have therefore framed the episode not only as a civilian-safety issue but also as a potential threat to the cooperation that underpins international counter-piracy efforts.
Turkey blamed, but responsibility remains disputed
Former Somali Foreign Minister Abdisaeed Muse Ali said Thursday that Turkey was responsible for the strike and accused Ankara of carrying out a “massacre” of civilians. Turkey has not publicly confirmed responsibility for the airstrike, according to reporting available as of Saturday.
The Associated Press has likewise reported that the actor behind the airstrike remained unconfirmed and that the affiliation of the four men killed had not been independently established.
That uncertainty has become a defining feature of the incident: reports have increasingly associated the operation with Turkey because of the presence of Turkish vessels, helicopters and drones around the hijacked LUTUF, as well as the Turkish military cargo aboard the vessel. But the available evidence does not yet amount to an official Turkish admission of responsibility.
Puntland warns of wider consequences
For Puntland, the episode reaches beyond the deaths themselves.
The Ministry of Security warned that attacks against civilians or their property in coastal areas could undermine the relationship between Puntland security institutions and foreign partners assisting in the campaign against piracy.
The warning comes as Somalia faces a renewed wave of maritime insecurity. The LUTUF hijacking was followed by another major incident in the Gulf of Aden, underscoring growing concerns about the return of Somali piracy and the security risks facing commercial shipping in waters around Somalia and Yemen.
Puntland has sought international assistance in confronting piracy while simultaneously asserting responsibility for the security of its coastal communities. The government’s latest statement therefore reflects a difficult balance: supporting international efforts to recover hijacked vessels while insisting that military operations must not turn innocent fishermen and other civilians into casualties.
The status of the LUTUF, its crew and its cargo remains unclear, while the circumstances surrounding the deadly strike continue to generate competing accounts.
For now, Puntland is demanding answers.
The central question is no longer simply how the LUTUF was hijacked or how the pirates will be forced to release it. It is whether the military response to the hijacking killed the very people Puntland says were never part of the piracy operation in the first place – and, if so, who ordered the strike and why.
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