The Islamic State Somalia continue hunting down fighters from its arch-rival, the Al-Qaeda linked Al-Shabaab militants.
In its latest campaign against Al-Shabaab, Islamic State Somalia killed 14 Al-Shabaab fighters and wounded 48 others outside El-Mirole village west of Qandala, Bari region, northern Somalia.
The Islamic State branch in Somalia Abnaa Ul Calipha or the Islamic State Somalia faction had threatened Al-Shabaab through the group’s Al Naba newsletter, sometimes in November over what it termed as an aggression and direct threat by Al-Shabaab against its foot soldiers.
On December 16, through its media, the Islamic State released a video that provided visual evidence of its soldiers fighting Al-Shabaab in the northern region of Puntland, Somalia.
The video shows a pile of killed bodies of men presumably Al-Shabaab fighters.
Rivalry between Al-Shabaab broke when a small faction of Al-Shabaab fighters denounced the group under the leadership of Abdikadir Muumin to form the Islamic State Somalia.
Although the Islamic State in Somalia does not operate a full-scale insurgency like Al-Shabaab and its foot soldiers are far outnumbered by the Al-Qaeda branch’s fighters, the Islamic State Somalia branch successfully followed through its warning by killing over a dozen Al-Shabaab militants to claim its fast establishment in northern Somalia region.
Screenshots from the Islamic State’s video from Somalia:
