A United States drone strike killed three ISIS fighters in the Golis Mountain region in the northern region of Somalia over the weekend. The strike was announced by the US Africa Command (AFRICOM) and targeted positions held by the Islamic State fighters active in Puntland.
This is the first airstrike in as many months against ISS which has seemingly gone dormant in terms of operation and is believed to be training and recruiting fighters as demonstrated by video and photo evidence released online.
The airstrike comes as ISIS’ Emir, Baghdadi was killed by US troops and as such it can be viewed as a larger offensive against the Daesh across the globe. While ISS appeared to have hibernated, intelligence reports have shown that the group online activity that includes recruitment drives especially in neighboring Ethiopia has spiked.
While in the past few months ISS seems to have been overshadowed by al Shabaab who have revamped, ISS still poses a major threat in Somalia and the larger Horn of Africa region seeing as its presence, might and capabilities cannot be adequately articulated and thereby making it a very dangerous entity in Somalia.
