Tuesday November 11, 2025
Hargeisa (HOL) — Somaliland police have arrested a man accused of killing his four young children after locking them inside their home and setting it ablaze in Hargeisa, a case that has stunned the public and drawn condemnation.
The children, three boys and a girl, all under the age of 10, died on Sunday when a fire swept through their two-room corrugated-metal house in the October neighborhood of Ahmed Dhagax district, according to the Hargeisa Fire Brigade. Neighbours who saw smoke rising tried to force their way in, but the doors had been locked from the outside.
Firefighters arrived within minutes and contained the flames, but all four children were found dead inside the structure.
Police identified the suspect as Hamse Iid Nur, the children’s father, and said he allegedly ignited the home before leaving the area. He was detained at the Criminal Investigations Department as investigators examined the motive. Authorities have not said whether mental illness or other factors contributed to the case.
The Fire Brigade said the blaze occurred during an ongoing domestic dispute between the children’s parents. Local residents told reporters that the children and their mother had been living away from the home for months. A court had recently awarded custody to the mother, who declined to give a statement, citing grief.
A neighbour told local media she pleaded with the father to unlock the door after smoke began rising from the structure. “We told him to free the children,” she said. “He told us to leave him alone and walked away.” Neighbours said the children had been with their grandmother shortly before the fire.
The only surviving sibling is an infant who was breastfeeding at the time and in her mother’s care. The bodies of the four children were taken to Hargeisa’s main hospital.
Somaliland President Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi (Irro) condemned the killings, calling them unprecedented and deeply distressing. “Four innocent children who had done nothing wrong were burned by their own father,” he said. “This is a shocking act of cruelty. I share the mother’s grief and pray for strength for her and the family.”
Authorities said the investigation is continuing. The children will be buried in Hargeisa, with President Irro and senior government officials expected to attend the funeral.
- With files from the BBC Somali Service