Thursday /6/Augsto 2026 {HMC}Puntland authorities said Thursday they had taken full control of the Puntland Security Force (PSF) headquarters in Bosaso, a day after seizing the force’s main base in Galkayo.
In a statement, the Puntland Defense Forces said the Bosaso headquarters and command facilities were now under the full control of the regional government and that security at the site had been secured.
The Puntland administration described those operating from the facility as armed militias illegally presenting themselves as security forces under the former PSF structure.
According to the statement, the takeover followed Wednesday’s security operation in Galkayo, where Puntland forces overran the PSF headquarters after hours of fighting. Authorities said both operations were aimed at dismantling armed groups they accused of threatening Puntland’s security, stability and constitutional order.
“The Bosaso headquarters is now fully under government control, and its security has been assured,” the Puntland Defense Forces said.
The operation marks the apparent end of the PSF’s presence in Puntland after years of political and military tensions between the force and President Said Abdullahi Deni’s administration.
The PSF was established in the early 2000s as an intelligence-led counterterrorism unit and played a central role in operations against al-Shabab and Islamic State militants in Puntland’s Cal Madow and Cal Miskaad mountain ranges. However, relations with the Puntland government deteriorated after Deni took office in 2019, culminating in deadly clashes in Bosaso in 2021.
Although the two sides later reached an agreement intended to resolve the dispute, key provisions were never implemented, and Puntland has since maintained that the PSF no longer forms part of the state’s official security institutions.
On Wednesday, President Deni ordered officers and troops aligned with Somalia’s federal government and stationed at bases inside Puntland to immediately surrender their weapons and hand over their facilities to the regional administration.
Neither the PSF nor Somalia’s federal government had publicly responded to Puntland’s latest announcement by Thursday.
