Türkiye’s first official statement stops short of denying involvement in two strikes that killed at least 13 people after pirates seized a vessel carrying Turkish weapons and communications equipment

      Two unclaimed strikes on Puntland’s Nugaal coast have opened a new front in the widening dispute between the regional administration and Somalia’s federal government, after a Puntland security official accused Türkiye of carrying out the attacks.

The strikes killed at least 13 people following the August 17 hijacking of the Cameroon-flagged M/V LUTUF, which was reportedly transporting Turkish weapons, communications equipment and satellite systems to Türkiye’s military training facility in Mogadishu.

Türkiye has now commented officially on the incident for the first time but did not confirm or deny that its forces conducted the strikes.

Türkiye Acknowledges Providing Support

The Turkish Ministry of National Defence said on Thursday that the Somali-Turkish Task Force Command continues to support Somalia’s capacity to combat terrorism and piracy under agreements signed between the two countries.

“Necessary support” was being provided to the Somali authorities, in coordination with the Turkish Foreign Ministry, regarding the incident in Somali territorial waters, it added.

The official statement did not explain the nature of that support or respond directly to Puntland’s accusation.

The wording leaves open whether Türkiye’s involvement was limited to surveillance and intelligence support, included the provision of targeting information, or extended to direct military action. No publicly available evidence has established which force carried out the attacks.

Puntland Accuses Türkiye

Puntland Deputy Security Minister Abdirahman Yusuf Dujana told BBC Somali that the regional administration believed Türkiye was responsible for two strikes and also accused Somalia’s federal government of involvement.

Dujana said Puntland possessed evidence concerning Turkish movements around the hijacked vessel and nearby coastal areas. He said reports and supporting documents had been submitted to international parties, but the evidence has not been released publicly or independently verified.

“We fight piracy, but people have rights. You cannot kill someone merely because they are suspected,” he said.

Puntland President Said Abdullahi Deni has similarly argued that suspected pirates should be arrested and prosecuted rather than killed without due process.

Two Strikes, 13 Dead

The first strike occurred near Garmaal on August 18, one day after the LUTUF was seized.

A Somali official told the Associated Press that a small boat had delivered khat to the hijackers before returning to shore. An airstrike subsequently killed four people and wounded two others.

Initial reports described the victims as suspected pirates, but relatives and local residents said some were fishermen. Neither account has been independently established.

A second strike near Jiifle, in Godob-Jiraan district, reportedly killed nine people on August 23. The attack came after the pirates moved the LUTUF towards that section of the coast.

A local resident said some of those killed were known as fishermen, although it remains unclear why they were at sea or whether anyone aboard the boat was connected to the hijackers.

No government or military force has claimed responsibility for either strike.

The LUTUF and Its Turkish Cargo

Eight armed men seized the M/V LUTUF approximately 3.5 nautical miles off Marraya in Puntland’s Eyl district and moved it towards the Nugaal coast.

The 1995-built general cargo ship has a deadweight capacity of about 1,401 tonnes. Its ten-member crew consisted of six Indians, one Turkish citizen, one Georgian and two Serbian security guards.

According to a Somali official cited by the Associated Press, the vessel was carrying Turkish weapons alongside communications and satellite equipment intended for the Turkish military training facility in Mogadishu.

Two Turkish-owned vessels later approached the hijacked ship, while Turkish helicopters and drones monitored the area, the official said.

Unconfirmed reports indicate that the pirates demanded approximately $2 million for the vessel and crew. As of August 28, maritime authorities had not announced their release or the recovery of the cargo.

Mogadishu Was Aware of the Operations

Somalia’s State Minister for Defence, Omar Ali Abdi, said on August 22 that the federal government was aware of military operations and strikes taking place off Puntland and was preparing a comprehensive report.

He argued that the federal government was legally responsible for authorising operations against piracy along Somalia’s coast. However, he did not identify the force conducting the strikes or confirm whether Mogadishu had authorised them.

The statement reinforced Puntland’s concerns that operations may have been conducted within its territory without coordination with the regional authorities.

A Piracy Crisis Becomes a Federal Dispute

The controversy comes amid a prolonged constitutional and political confrontation between Garowe and Mogadishu.

Puntland suspended recognition of the federal government’s authority in March 2024 after rejecting constitutional amendments that it said had been adopted without national consensus and would concentrate power in the presidency.

The dispute widened in 2026 over Somalia’s electoral arrangements, the scope of federal authority and Puntland’s independent security and economic relations with foreign partners.

Türkiye, meanwhile, is the federal government’s most important military partner. Under a ten-year defence and economic cooperation agreement signed in 2024, Ankara committed to help build, train and equip Somalia’s navy and strengthen maritime security against piracy, illegal fishing and external threats.

The current incident exposes a central weakness in that arrangement: Türkiye’s agreement is with Mogadishu, while Puntland exercises effective control over much of the northeastern coastline and operates its own maritime and security forces.

If the strikes were conducted with federal approval but without Puntland’s participation, Garowe is likely to view them as an attempt to exercise federal authority through a foreign military partner.

Sheba Intelligence Background: Piracy Expands Across the Corridor

The LUTUF hijacking is part of a broader resurgence documented by Sheba Intelligence.

In its August 22 investigation, “The New Red Sea Threat: Piracy Returns as Houthi Pressure Spreads Across the Shipping Corridor,” Sheba Intelligence recorded at least 19 piracy-related incidents in Somali waters and the Gulf of Aden during 2026, including five successful commercial-vessel hijackings since April.

Only three days after the LUTUF was seized, six armed men hijacked the SIBU 1 approximately 136 nautical miles east of Yemen’s Mukalla and diverted it towards Somalia.

The two cases demonstrated that pirate groups were no longer operating only near Puntland’s coast. By using captured vessels as mother ships, they have extended their reach into the Gulf of Aden and waters closer to Yemen.

The Sheba Intelligence report warned that piracy was returning as international naval forces concentrated more heavily on Houthi missile and drone threats around Bab al-Mandab and the southern Red Sea.

A Growing Security Gap

The LUTUF crisis shows how the political split between Puntland and Mogadishu could weaken the response to an expanding maritime threat.

Effective counter-piracy operations require coastal intelligence, arrests on land, investigations into financial and supply networks, and cooperation between local and federal security institutions. Uncoordinated strikes—particularly if civilians were killed—risk alienating coastal communities whose information is essential for identifying pirate groups.

The dispute could also damage Puntland’s cooperation with Turkish forces and turn Türkiye’s growing military presence into a domestic political issue.

Responsibility for the strikes remains unconfirmed, and Puntland has yet to publish the evidence behind its allegations. Türkiye’s statement acknowledges operational support but does not clarify whether that support included the use of force.

What began as the hijacking of a weapons-carrying vessel has therefore become a wider test of authority: whether Mogadishu can conduct or authorise security operations along Puntland’s coast without the regional administration—and whether the resulting dispute will give resurgent pirate networks more room to operate.