diff --git a/src/aln.cpp b/src/aln.cpp
index 71871dfa..1da19074 100644
--- a/src/aln.cpp
+++ b/src/aln.cpp
@@ -221,15 +221,48 @@ inline Alignment extend_seed(
     AlignmentInfo info;
     int result_ref_start;
     bool gapped = true;
-    if (projected_ref_end - projected_ref_start == query.size() && consistent_nam) {
-        std::string_view ref_segm_ham = ref.substr(projected_ref_start, query.size());
-        auto hamming_dist = hamming_distance(query, ref_segm_ham);
-
-        if (hamming_dist >= 0 && (((float) hamming_dist / query.size()) < 0.05) ) { //Hamming distance worked fine, no need to ksw align
-            info = hamming_align(query, ref_segm_ham, aligner.parameters.match, aligner.parameters.mismatch, aligner.parameters.end_bonus);
-            result_ref_start = projected_ref_start + info.ref_start;
-            gapped = false;
+    if (consistent_nam && projected_ref_end - projected_ref_start == query.size()) {
+        const std::string_view projected_ref = ref.substr(projected_ref_start, query.size());
+        info = hamming_align(query, projected_ref, aligner.parameters.match, aligner.parameters.mismatch, aligner.parameters.end_bonus);
+        if (info.query_end < query.length()) {
+            // Right end is soft clipped, do gapped alignment on it
+            const std::string query_right = query.substr(info.query_end);
+            const std::string_view ref_right = projected_ref.substr(info.ref_end);
+            auto right = aligner.ksw_extend(query_right, ref_right, false);
+
+            info.query_end += right.query_end;
+            info.ref_end += right.ref_end;
+            info.edit_distance += right.edit_distance;
+            info.sw_score += right.sw_score;
+            assert(!info.cigar.empty());
+            info.cigar.pop_oplen();
+
+            info.cigar += right.cigar;
         }
+
+        if (info.query_start > 0) {
+            // Left end is soft clipped, do gapped alignment on it
+            std::string query_left = query.substr(0, info.query_start);
+            std::string ref_left{projected_ref.substr(0, info.ref_start)};
+            std::reverse(query_left.begin(), query_left.end());
+            std::reverse(ref_left.begin(), ref_left.end());
+            auto left = aligner.ksw_extend(query_left, ref_left, true);
+
+            info.query_start -= left.query_end;
+            info.ref_start -= left.ref_end;
+            info.edit_distance += left.edit_distance;
+            info.sw_score += left.sw_score;
+
+            // TODO a bit too complicated
+            info.cigar.reverse();
+            info.cigar.pop_oplen();
+            info.cigar += left.cigar;
+            info.cigar.reverse();
+        }
+
+        assert(info.cigar.derived_sequence_length() == query.length());
+        result_ref_start = projected_ref_start + info.ref_start;
+        gapped = false;
     }
     if (gapped) {
         const int diff = std::abs(nam.ref_span() - nam.query_span());
diff --git a/src/cigar.hpp b/src/cigar.hpp
index 931ab8a1..55bda51d 100644
--- a/src/cigar.hpp
+++ b/src/cigar.hpp
@@ -93,6 +93,10 @@ class Cigar {
         std::reverse(m_ops.begin(), m_ops.end());
     }
 
+    void pop_oplen() {
+        m_ops.pop_back();
+    }
+
     /* Return a new Cigar that uses M instead of =/X */
     Cigar to_m() const;