Battle of Tukaraq | |||||||||
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Part of Puntland–Somaliland dispute | |||||||||
Tukaraq location in Somaliland | |||||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||||
13 captured as POW | 14 captured as POW | ||||||||
200-300 in total 2700 families displaced |
The Battle of Tukaraq in 2018 saw the Somaliland National Army engage Puntland forces in Tukaraq, a town in the eastern Sool region, on the road between the regional capitals of Las Anod and Garowe. The ensuing heavy clashes resulted in Somaliland ousting the Puntland army from the town. The battle was significant as it was the first time both forces clashed directly. [1] [2]
The town is situated 86km west of Garowe, the capital of Puntland, a federal member state in northern Somalia. Up until the battle the town was a customs point operated by Puntland. Somaliland had earlier captured Tukaraq from Khaatumo State forces in 2012, who subsequently fled to Ethiopia. Somaliland forces then later withdrew from the town, with Puntland assuming control. Puntland and Somaliland have previously clashed in the outskirts of Tukaraq in 2011. [3] [4] [5]
Somalia's president Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed visited the Puntland region earlier, hoping to improve strained relations between the federal member states of Puntland and Galmudug and the federal government. He was also asked by traditional elders from the Tukaraq area to visit the contested area and unconfirmed reports suggested that he intended to visit the contested Sool region. [6] [7] [8]
Early in the morning on the 8th of January Somaliland forces launched an offensive to capture the town. Heavy clashes ensued between Somaliland and the defending Puntland forces, with its defensive positions being overran and the town captured. [9]
A second and much deadlier round of clashes between both sides took place in mid-May in the holy month of Ramadan when Puntland launched a multi-front offensive in an attempt to recapture the town. After heavy shelling Somaliland repelled the offensive. [10] [11] [12] [13]
Several rounds of clashes of varying levels of intensity have occurred since Somaliland's capture of the town. [14]
On 3 June 2019, just before Eid ul Fitr, Somaliland and Puntland exchanged POWs captured as a result of the conflict, with Somaliland releasing 14 soldiers and Puntland releasing 3. [15]
Residents registered to vote in the upcoming Somaliland parliamentary elections scheduled to be held in May 2021. However, Somaliland lost its control over Tukaraq in 2023 over the pro-statehood mass demonstrations surrounding the Las Anod conflict.
Sool is an administrative region (gobol) in south/north western Somalia. It borders Togdheer to the west, Sanaag to the north, Ethiopia to the south and Nugal, Bari to the east. Its capital city is Las Anod. The region is disputed by the self-declared Republic of Somaliland and Puntland, a Federal Member State of Somalia. The region is partially controlled by both polities. Due to the
Las Anod is the administrative capital of the Sool region, currently controlled by Khatumo State forces aligned with Somalia.
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Sarmaanyo is a town in the Sool region of Somaliland/Somaliland. (Sometimes considered in the Sanaag region. ) The town is predominantly inhabited by people from the Somali ethnic group, with the Dhulbahante sub-clan of the Harti Darod especially well represented.
The Puntland–Somaliland dispute is a territorial dispute over the provinces of Sool, Sanaag and the Buuhoodle district of Togdheer region between the self-declared Republic of Somaliland and the Puntland state of Somalia.
Hadaftimo is an historic town in the eastern Sanaag region. It is home to several archaeological sites and ancient buildings. There is a Puntland military base.
Bo'ame is an ancient town in the eastern Sool region. Puntland has effective control there since its inception in August 1998, but Somaliland also has a territorial claim. It is the capital of Bo'ame district which includes the small towns of Karin-gorfood, Fardhidin, Dan-Gudban, Caleeli, Buura-wadal and Garaca Dacare and Biriqodayaga.
Buuhoodle, also known as Bohotle, is the largest city in the Cayn region of Somalia. It serves as a significant border town for the movement of goods between Somalia and the Somali Region of Ethiopia. The surrounding district is rich in livestock with growing agricultural activities.
Dharkayn Geenyo is a town in the southern Sool region of So.
Tukaraq is a small village in the eastern Sool region of Somalia. The town is located on the road between Las Anod and Garowe in Las Anod District. Somaliland has had effective control there since 2018, but Puntland also has a territorial claim.
Dhummay is a town in the Sool region of Somaliland/Somalia. It is 35 miles south of Las Anod, the regional capital of Sool.
Yasin Haji Mohamoud Hiir also known as Faratoon (Faraton) is a Somaliland politician, who is currently the speaker of Somaliland's Lower House of Parliament.
The Governor of Sool. Is the chief executive of the Sool, region of Somaliland and leads the region's executive branch.
Events of 2018 in Somaliland.
Qoriley is a town in the Sool region of Somaliland.
The Somaliland National Army, is the land force and largest branch of the Somaliland Armed Forces is based in the Somaliland capital of Hargeisa. There are approximately under 100,000 active members. The Somaliland National Army is composed entirely of professionals and volunteers due to the army not being mandatory of conscription. Some Somaliland battalions operate near the Puntland border due to a border dispute.
Ahmed Abdi Mohamud Sugulle "Habsade" is a Puntland and Somaliland politician. He was a decorated Colonel in the Somali Armed Forces and the second in command of the Somali Custodial Corps equivalent to that of the Italian Arma dei Carabinieri but the Custodial Corps fall under the Ministry of the Interior and are part of the Police Force. A politician and respected elder later in life (he was instrumental in the founding of Somaliland and became the Speaker of the Somaliland House of Representatives. In 1998, he was appointed Minister of the Interior of Puntland but was dismissed in 2007 after a conflict with Mohamud Muse Hersi, who became President of Puntland in 2006. In 2007, he brought Somaliland troops into Las Anod, leading to Somaliland's effective control of the Sool region. He served as various Somaliland Ministers of state from 2008. In 2014, Abdiweli Gaas became President of Puntland and he come back to Puntland.
SSC or HMB-SSC or HBM-SSC was the name of the self-proclaimed autonomous government of the Dhulbahante clan living between Somaliland and Puntland, which was active from 2009 to around 2012. It claimed possession of the so-called SSC regions of Sool (S), Sanaag (S), and Cayn (C).
Guumays (Guumeys) is a village in the Sool region currently under the control of Khatumo State forces.
The 2023 Las Anod conflict is an ongoing armed conflict between the Somaliland National Army and the SSC-Khatumo forces of the Dhulbahante in Las Anod, the capital of the Sool region. Fighting erupted on February 6 after Somaliland security forces held a violent crackdown on civil protests. On February 8, the supreme Garad of Dhulbahante, Garad Jama Garad Ali, declared an intent to secede and reunite with the Federal Government of Somalia.