Garowe, Somalia — Puntland, Somalia’s semi-autonomous northeastern federal member state, has accused Turkey of carrying out deadly, unclaimed air strikes along its coast after Somali pirates hijacked a cargo ship carrying Turkish military supplies.
Abdirahman Yusuf Dujana, Puntland’s deputy security minister, told BBC Somali that the regional administration believed Turkey was responsible for two strikes that have killed at least 13 people in the Nugaal region.
Dujana also accused Somalia’s federal government of involvement, but did not provide independently verifiable evidence linking either Ankara or Mogadishu to the attacks.
No government, military force or armed group has publicly claimed responsibility.
“We fight piracy, but people have rights. You cannot simply kill someone,” Dujana told the BBC.
Turkey’s Defence Ministry said on Thursday that the Somali-Turkish Task Force Command was providing support to Somali authorities over the incident, but did not say whether Turkish forces had carried out the strikes.
“The Somali Turkish Task Force Command continues its support for developing Somalia’s capacity to combat terrorism and piracy within the framework of the agreements signed between the two countries,” the ministry said in a brief statement.
“In this context, necessary support is being provided to the Somali authorities, in coordination with our Ministry of Foreign Affairs, regarding the incident that occurred in Somali territorial waters.”
The ministry did not specify what support Turkey was providing or address Puntland’s accusation that Turkish forces carried out the strikes.
Dujana said Puntland had evidence supporting its accusation, including information about Turkish activity around the hijacked ship and the surrounding coast.
“We have evidence,” he said.
Somalia Today could not independently verify Puntland’s allegations.
Two deadly strikes
The first reported strike came on August 18, a day after pirates seized the Cameroon-flagged M/V LUTUF off Puntland.
The strike reportedly killed four people and wounded two near Garmaal after a small boat returned to shore from the direction of the hijacked vessel.
Initial reports described those killed as suspected pirates. Relatives and some residents disputed that account, saying some of the victims were fishermen.
The Associated Press, citing a Somali official who spoke on condition of anonymity, reported that the boat had delivered khat to the pirates before heading back to shore, when an air strike hit it.
AP said it could not independently establish who carried out the attack or whether those killed had been involved in the hijacking.
A second deadly strike on August 23 near Jiifle in Godob-Jiraan district killed nine people, the local mayor told BBC Somali.
A resident who visited the site said he saw eight badly burnt bodies. He said some of the young men aboard the boat were known locally as fishermen, but could not establish why they had been at sea or whether everyone on board had links to piracy.
Reports said the pirates had moved the LUTUF towards the Jiifle area before the attack.
Puntland President Said Abdullahi Deni later criticised the killings, saying suspected pirates should face legal proceedings rather than be killed without due process.
Hijacked arms ship
Pirates seized the LUTUF on August 17 about 3.5 nautical miles off Marraya in Puntland’s Eyl district and steered it towards the Nugaal coast.
A Somali official told AP that the vessel was carrying Turkish weapons, communications equipment and satellite systems destined for a Turkish military training facility in Mogadishu.
The ship’s 10-member crew included six Indians, one Turkish national, one Georgian and two Serbian security guards.
The official also told AP that Turkish-owned vessels, helicopters and drones had been monitoring the area after the hijacking.
Somalia Today reported on Monday that the pirates had demanded about $2 million for the ship’s release, according to sources. It remained unclear whether formal ransom negotiations had begun or whether any party had agreed to pay.
Dujana said Puntland remained committed to fighting piracy but that operations had become more difficult because the hijackers were holding crew members hostage.
“The people they are holding hostage must not be harmed,” he said.
Federal role questioned
The controversy has also raised questions over what Somalia’s federal government knew about the operations.
State Minister for Defence Omar Ali Abdi said on August 22 that Mogadishu was aware of military operations and strikes taking place off Puntland and was preparing a comprehensive report.
“If military operations are taking place along Somalia’s coast against pirate groups, the federal government is the institution legally responsible for making decisions on such matters,” he told reporters.
He did not identify the force carrying out the strikes or say whether the federal government had authorised the attacks now under dispute.
Turkey has a major military role in Somalia.
Under a 10-year defence and economic cooperation agreement signed in 2024, Turkey agreed to help Somalia build, train and equip its naval forces and strengthen maritime security against piracy, illegal fishing and other threats.
Ankara also operates a large military training facility in Mogadishu.
Dujana said the longstanding political dispute between Puntland and the federal government had made cooperation against piracy more difficult.
He also said Puntland was investigating criminal networks suspected of supporting pirate groups and had detained people from outside the region carrying GPS equipment and computers used to track vessels hundreds of miles offshore.
Asked whether Al-Shabaab or Islamic State militants had links to the current piracy activity, Dujana said Puntland had no evidence directly connecting either group to the incidents.
Piracy resurges
The dispute comes amid the most serious resurgence of Somali piracy in years.
The International Maritime Organization said on August 24 that pirates and armed robbers were holding six vessels and more than 90 seafarers in the region, prompting Secretary-General Arsenio Dominguez to call for urgent international action.
“We cannot allow the resurgence of piracy in the Gulf of Aden and surrounding waters to go unaddressed,” he said.
The International Maritime Bureau said Somali pirates were responsible for 94 per cent of crew members taken hostage worldwide during the first half of 2026, despite an overall decline in global piracy incidents.
Dujana said Puntland had forces capable of confronting pirates on land and at sea, but called for renewed international naval support similar to the cooperation deployed when Somali piracy was at its peak.
Somalia Today sought further clarification from Turkish officials on whether Turkish forces carried out the strikes, and from Somalia’s defence and information ministries on whether the federal government had authorised them. We had not received a response as of publication.