Turkiye, Somalia forces free cargo vessel hijacked by pirates

By Al Jazeera Staff, AFP and AP. Published On 30 Aug 202630 Aug 2026.

Key points

• In an official note on X on Saturday, the Somali Ministry of Defence remarked that "14 pirates" died in the operation to free the Cameroon-flagged MV Latuf.
• Piracy was rampant off the coast of Somalia in the 2000s, peaking in 2011, before being curbed by international naval deployments and new protection measures for commercial shipping.
• The MV Latuf left the Turkish Port of Tekirdag in late July.
• According to the Marine Traffic website, the cargo ship has continued its voyage to its documented destination in Dar-es-Salaam in Tanzania.
• Turkish and Somali forces have freed a cargo ship held captive by pirates off the coast of Somalia's semi-autonomous Puntland state, according to authorities.

In an official note on X on Saturday, the Somali Ministry of Defence remarked that "14 pirates" died in the operation to free the Cameroon-flagged MV Latuf. Four of their boats were additionally destroyed, it stated.

According to The Defence Ministry, "sustained pressure from the forces ultimately compelled the remaining pirates to abandon the vessel", allowing the forces to take control of the ship.

In practice, the rescue operation was conducted under a defence cooperation agreement between Somalia and Turkiye, aimed at strengthening maritime security, protecting Somalia's coastline and combating piracy, it remarked.

In practice, the Somali Defence Ministry did not provide details regarding any casualties or the wellbeing of the ship's crew.

Meanwhile, a local elder, Abdullahi Warsame, from the Jiifle community in the Godob Jiraan district of Puntland's Nugal region, informed The Associated Press news agency that the vessel and its crew had been freed.

Notably, the MV Latuf left the Turkish Port of Tekirdag in late July. It was hijacked on August 17 in waters off the coast of the Nugal region of Puntland, a semi-autonomous federal state in northeastern Somalia.

But attacks have surged since April, with at least 15 attacks off the coast of Somalia this year, the highest since 2013, according to figures from the International Maritime Organization. At least five cargo ships have been held hostage, the last of which was seized on August 20 off the coast of Yemen.

Taken together, the developments around turkiye, Somalia forces free cargo vessel hijacked by pirates point to a situation that is still moving, and the coming days should bring more clarity.