BOSSASO, PUNTLAND
Credible OSINT reports have confirmed that the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria has been recruiting youths forcibly in Puntland. According to a number of parents who spoke to a local media, their children were forcibly taken by ISIS recruiters operating in the region.
Since Friday last week (4th September 2015), around 40 children under the age of 18 years have been missing.
A group of smugglers have reportedly been registering new fighters who will fight along ISIL jihadists in Syria and Iraq.
In an interview, Hodan Farah Osman, 37 told a local media that her young son was forcibly abducted by anonymous people believed to be working for ISIL early Sunday 6th September 2015 while heading to College.
According to accounts given by local residents in Sanaag region, a suspicious boat carrying around 40 children approached at Dur-duri shore near Laasqoray port on Friday, making this the first of its kind in northern Somalia.
For the past four years Somalia’s Al Qaeda linked group of Al Shabaab who are based in Gal-gala rigid hills have been waging guerrilla style attacks against the state forces of Puntland.
The alleged abduction of Somali young people to fight in the trouble spots of the Middle East for ISIL is a concern that all parents shared and pleaded with Puntland authorities to take immediate action before more children disappears.
