Pirates hijacked the cargo ship M/V LUTUF off Somalia’s Puntland coast on Monday, seizing a vessel carrying Turkish weapons, communications equipment and satellite gear bound for a Turkish military training facility in Mogadishu, a Somali official told The Associated Press. The ship, owned by Polar Movement Shipping, was seized about 3.5 nautical miles off Marraya in Eyl district and moved toward Garmaal in Dangoroyo district. Its 10-member crew includes six Indian nationals, one Turkish citizen, one Georgian and two Serbian security guards.
The eight pirates are believed to belong to the same group that hijacked the M/V Sward in April, the official said. Two Turkish-owned vessels, backed by Turkish drones and helicopters, moved to monitor the ship, and what the Somali official described as a drone strike killed four suspected pirates and wounded two others on Tuesday after some of the hijackers went ashore for supplies, according to DefenceWeb. Turkish authorities have not commented publicly on the incident.
The seizure is the latest in a piracy resurgence off Somalia, with at least five vessels hijacked since April after years of relative calm, according to EUNAVFOR Operation ATALANTA. The case highlights the jurisdictional gap along Puntland’s coast, where pirate networks operate largely beyond Mogadishu’s control even as Turkey expands its military footprint in Somalia. Attacks on the supply routes feeding that expansion show how quickly a piracy incident can escalate into a wider military response.
