Las Anod (Somalia Today) — Relatives on Tuesday buried 21 civilians killed in a clan attack in Somalia’s northern Sool region, as elders and federal officials appealed for calm after one of the deadliest local flare-ups in the area in months.
Families held the mass burial near Ari-Adeeye after the bodies were handed over to them in the morning, local sources told Somalia Today.
The victims came from the Fiqishini community, residents said.
At least 25 people died in Monday’s violence in the town, including traditional elders, women and children, according to residents and community sources. Several others were wounded.
Witnesses said armed men travelling in gun-mounted vehicles entered parts of Ari-Adeeye and directly targeted civilians after tensions linked to earlier killings in the area.
Somalia Today could not independently verify the full sequence of events. Authorities in the Northeastern State administration had not publicly commented on the attack by Tuesday afternoon.
“I saw the bodies of several women and some security personnel killed in the fighting,” one witness in Ari-Adeeye told Somalia Today.
The witness said district security forces fought the attackers but failed to contain them because the group arrived with a large convoy of armed vehicles.
‘Unacceptable’
Somalia’s Interior Minister Ali Yusuf Ali Hosh condemned the killings, describing the violence as unacceptable and damaging to both the local community and Somalia as a whole.
“Ari-Adeeye has seen strife that is not good for the area or for Somalis,” Hosh said in an interview with Somali Cable television.
“We are very, very saddened by what happened. It is something no sincere heart can accept,” he added.
The minister sent condolences to the families of those killed and prayed for the wounded to recover.
“We ask Allah to have mercy on those who died and to heal those who were wounded,” he said.
Local sources said the situation in Ari-Adeeye was calm by Tuesday, though fear remained high among residents after families fled their homes during the attack.
‘We are saddened’
Traditional elders and local notables have launched urgent mediation efforts to stop the violence from spreading between neighbouring communities.
Garaad Jama Garad Ismail, one of the traditional elders in Sool, said community leaders had worked to prevent the confrontation before it erupted.
“We are saddened by what happened. We made many efforts before the fighting, but what was destined happened,” he said.
“I send special condolences to our brothers with whom we share the land and the administration.”
Former Somali prime minister Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke said the violence in both Ari-Adeeye and Jalalaqsi, in central Somalia’s Hiiraan region, required urgent government intervention.
“What is happening in Jalalaqsi and Ari-Adeeye is a great tragedy and needs immediate government intervention,” he wrote on X.
“Those who committed these heinous abuses must be arrested and brought before the law. May Allah have mercy on those who died, and may He heal those who were wounded.”
Land dispute
Local sources said the Ari-Adeeye attack followed the killing of a man on the outskirts of the town.
The men accused of carrying out that killing were reportedly angered by the deaths of three men last week after a dispute over land earmarked for settlement.
Such disputes can quickly escalate in rural Somalia, where access to land, grazing routes and water points often overlaps with clan authority and local security arrangements.
The latest violence has renewed concern over the killing of civilians traditionally regarded in Somali customary law as “biri-ma-geydo” — people who should not be targeted in conflict, including women, children, elders and other non-combatants.
Sool remains one of Somalia’s most politically sensitive regions.
Somaliland and Puntland have long contested the area, while local SSC-Khatumo authorities later reconstituted themselves as the Northeastern State of Somalia, adding another layer to an already fragile political and security landscape.
Las Anod, the regional capital, became the centre of a major conflict in 2023 after months of unrest and fighting that displaced tens of thousands of people and reshaped control across parts of Sool.
Fear of reprisals
The Ari-Adeeye attack also comes days after clan violence in Jalalaqsi killed several people and destroyed homes, prompting officials in HirShabelle to send a mediation delegation and appeal for an immediate halt to hostilities.
Former president Sharif Sheikh Ahmed also urged calm in Jalalaqsi, saying he was deeply saddened by the loss of life and property in what he described as tragic internal conflict.
For residents of Ari-Adeeye, the immediate fear is that Monday’s killings could trigger another cycle of revenge.
Elders, religious leaders and officials now face pressure to contain the crisis before armed groups regroup or relatives of the dead seek retaliation.
“This is a moment for elders, religious leaders and the authorities to act quickly,” one local resident said.
“If this is not stopped now, more families will bury their dead.”
