Somalia's federal government defended a drone operation attributed to Turkey in which at least four people died off Garmaal in Puntland's Nugaal region, while questioning the regional administration's assertion that those killed were civilian fishermen. Turkey had not publicly commented on the operation.
State Minister of Defense Omar Ali Abdi said in Mogadishu that federal authorities knew of the strike beforehand. He asked whether Puntland had evidence supporting its identification of the victims as civilians rather than pirates. His comments were the federal government's first public response since reports of the incident appeared on August 18.
Initial media reports said four pirates were killed and linked them to the hijacking of the Cameroon-flagged vessel LUTUF. The ship was described as carrying weapons and communications equipment intended for Turkey's military base in Mogadishu. Later accounts challenged that version and identified all of the dead as civilians.
The competing descriptions generated public pressure and criticism. Former Somali foreign minister Abdisaed Muse accused Turkey of committing a massacre. Puntland issued a formal statement on Friday naming the victims as civilians and asking the country responsible to explain why they had been targeted.
Puntland called the deaths intolerable and warned that the episode could damage cooperation between its security bodies and international partners working against piracy in Somali waters and the Gulf of Aden. The regional government also alleged that outside actors were supporting piracy to undermine Puntland's security record and reputation. The supplied evidence did not identify those alleged actors or independently establish that claim.
The core facts remained contested in the absence of a Turkish statement or independently presented evidence about the identities and conduct of those killed. The federal government's advance knowledge established that Mogadishu had been informed of the operation, but Abdi did not resolve whether the target consisted of pirates or fishermen. Puntland's declaration provided names and a civilian classification, while the first reports had relied on a piracy narrative connected to the LUTUF hijacking.
That unresolved distinction is central to assessing the strike. If the four people were pirates involved in seizing a vessel carrying military supplies, the federal government could portray the operation as a security response. If they were fishermen, as Puntland maintained, the incident involved the killing of civilians and raised questions over targeting and accountability.
As of the event date, at least four deaths were reported, federal and regional authorities were publicly at odds, and Turkey had offered no account. Calls for an explanation therefore remained unanswered, with the available claims coming from Somali institutions taking opposing positions on who was hit.
