GARMAAL, Somalia — Four people were killed and two others wounded in an airstrike near Garmaal on Somalia’s Nugaal coast, according to local reports, one day after armed men seized the Cameroon-flagged cargo vessel Lutuf off the northeastern coast.
The strike took place Tuesday afternoon near Garmaal, in Dangorayo district, after a small fishing boat reportedly returned from the area where the hijacked vessel was being held. Local residents said the boat came under attack as it approached the shore. The four people aboard were killed, while two others were reportedly wounded and taken to Garowe for treatment.
The identities of those killed were reported as Ahmed Ali Jama Dhahar, Heego Mohamed Ducaale, Waraad Yusuf Ubeed and Caydarus Yusuf Ilmi, according to local reporting.
Accounts of the victims’ affiliations have differed. Some reports described them as suspected members of a pirate group involved in the seizure of the Lutuf, while residents and other local accounts said they were fishermen and disputed the characterization. The circumstances remain under investigation.
The ship seizure
The airstrike followed the reported hijacking of the Lutuf, a general cargo vessel sailing under the Cameroon flag. Maritime security authorities said eight armed men boarded the vessel on Aug. 17, about four nautical miles south of Mareeyo, Somalia. The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center reported the boarding, while maritime-security organizations subsequently identified the ship as the Lutuf.
The vessel is a relatively small general cargo ship, and maritime-security reports said its crew had been taken under the control of the attackers. Later reporting indicated that the hijackers may have used the previously seized MV Sward as a so-called mothership before taking control of the Lutuf. The reported status of the crew has varied across accounts and should be treated cautiously pending confirmation from maritime authorities.
The seizure is part of a broader resurgence of piracy off Somalia. Maritime-security assessments have reported several merchant vessels remaining under the control of Somali pirate groups, raising renewed concerns about shipping security in the region.
Who carried out the strike?
The force responsible for the airstrike has not been publicly identified.
Unverified reports circulating locally have linked the attack to foreign forces operating off Somalia’s coast, including Turkish forces, but there has been no official confirmation of those claims. No government or military force has publicly acknowledged responsibility for the strike.
The lack of an official explanation has left several central questions unanswered: whether the strike was aimed at suspected pirates, who ordered it, and whether the operation was directly connected to the hijacking of the Lutuf.
Puntland authorities have deployed police officers and investigators to the scene and instructed residents not to move the bodies or disturb other potential evidence. The investigation is expected to focus on the identities of those killed, the circumstances of the strike and its possible connection to the maritime hijacking.
The Federal Government of Somalia in Mogadishu had not publicly issued a detailed statement on the airstrike at the time of publication.
For residents of Garmaal, the incident has brought a violent episode of Somalia’s renewed piracy crisis directly onto the coast. For international shipping, the events surrounding the Lutuf represent another sign that armed groups remain capable of operating from Somalia’s coastline despite years of international efforts to suppress piracy.
The investigation could help determine whether Tuesday’s strike was a targeted operation against suspected hijackers or an attack whose circumstances remain more complicated than early reports suggest.
