The Islamic State also released a claim for its Somalia province in a series of claims released by the group’s official channels. The group claims it killed/wounded 7 NISA explosive experts in an IED blast in the Bakara market of Mogadishu. This is the Islamic State Somalia’s 96th overall claim.
Abnaa Ul-Calipha has been in the past year gaining momentum and especially delocalizing its attacks from the headquarters and further into the previously al Shabaab-dominated areas. In the past months, the ISIS province in Somalia has been conducting assassinations and targeted killings in Mogadishu and Afgooye areas further south which is away from the group’s headquarters in Puntland.
The claim by ISIS central can be viewed as desperate measures by the group’s core leadership to reach out to its caliphate seeing as the main group in Iraq and Syria is almost completely defeated and as such legitimizing active groups would likely empower them to carry out more attacks in the name of the group. Intelligence has been indicating that ISIS could be exporting some of its experienced fighters to join the ranks of smaller caliphates and as such groups like Islamic State in Somalia would offer ample haven for terrorist fleeing war in the Middle East.
Therefore it is crucial for security agencies in Somalia to be on the look-out, remain vigilante and especially tighten the noose in fighting both al Shabaab and IS Somalia as it would be paramount in ensuring that the groups do not offer refuge to ISIS fighters from the Middle East.
