The United States is intensifying its focus on fighting militant groups in Somalia, after the increasing number of targets associated with the Daesh group that has renewed its base in the Horn of Africa.
US officials are concerned that ISIS in Somalia is at the heart of the network
international finance, and hosting the group’s top leader.
IS’s top leaders see Africa as a place to invest, where they can work better and more freely, and they want to expand into Somalia,” said a senior US defense official.
The U.S. assessment follows reports that the ISIS leader, Abu Hafs al-Hashemi al-Qurashi, traveled from Syria or Iraq to Yemen via the Puntland region.
It also follows warnings from many Somali security officials that IS-Somalia has become stronger, due to the influx of fighters and operatives from Yemen.
A US official confirmed on Monday that an airstrike late last month in the area of Dadaar, 81 kilometers southeast of Bosaso, targeted IS-Somalia leader Abdul Qadir Mu’min.
The first assessment by the US Africa Command on May 31 stated that three of the IS militants were killed. Although it is not clear that Mu’min is among the dead.
