In a rare assault, the Islamic State Somalia (ISS) tried—and ultimately failed—to oust Puntland Security Forces (PSF) from a PSF base earlier today. Nonetheless, the attack represents how ISS is growing in strength and capacity.
The camp is at least the second one ran by the Islamic State in Somalia’s northern Puntland region.
The al Qaeda branch claimed a massive IED attack on a military convoy in Puntland, as well as shelling a military base in southern Somalia that also reportedly hosts US troops.
A Shabaab suicide bomber carried out an attack on a security convoy in the coastal city of Bossaso. Two foreigners believed to be working for Saracen International survived the attack.
Security officials said Shabaab forces under Mohammed Said Atom have been driven from the Galgala Mountains.
Thirteen Shabaab fighters and five Puntland security personnel were killed in fighting near a region known as the Tora Bora of East Africa.
Fighting breaks out in Puntland; Iran supplies weapons and other support to the Islamic Courts Islamic Court Militia cheers during the handing over of weapons by the rivall militia in Mogadishu, Thursday, July 13, 2006. (AP Photo / Mohamed Sheikh Nor.) Click image to view. The Islamic Courts Union and forces from the semi autonomous […]
Puntland takes a preemptive shot at the Islamic Courts units moving northward Map of Somalia. Islamic Courts advances in Red, recent clash in yellow. Click map to view. As the long awaited showdown in Baidoa between the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia and the Islamic Courts drags on, the Islamic Courts have advanced northward towards […]
During his message for Eid al Adha, Ali Mohamad Rage, Shabaab’s top spokesman, congratulated the Group for Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM), Al Qaeda’s branch in West Africa, for its recent victories in Mali. Rage also praised Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and denounced American and Turkish activities in Somalia.
Shabaab, Al Qaeda’s branch in East Africa, highlighted last year’s brazen assault on Mogadishu’s Godka Jilacow prison, operated by Somalia’s National Intelligence and Security Agency. In the video, one of the attackers was identified as the son of Ali Mohamed Rage, the group’s top spokesman.
The United States launched a rare ground operation in northern Somalia that apprehended Abdiweli Mohamed Yusuf, the finance emir for the Islamic State’s so-called Somali Province. The raid was the first confirmed US ground operation in northern Somalia since January 2023.
Shabaab has reasserted its dominance in the Hiiran region in central Somalia. The Al Qaeda branch’s takeover of the towns of Moqokori and Tardo effectively completes the rollback of the government’s offensive in those areas, which began in 2022.
By the end of March 2025, the Trump administration already launched at least 16 air and drone strikes inside Somalia. In comparison, the Biden administration only launched 10 strikes in 2024.
The United States and the United Arab Emirates are conducting airstrikes in northern Somalia in support of Puntland’s military offensive against the local Islamic State branch. Tracking UAE’s strikes in particular, however, is difficult.
The Islamic State released images of 12 men who took part in its recent suicide assault in northern Somalia. All of them were foreign fighters, showing the growing internationalization of this Islamic State wing.
On December 12, The Somali National Army (SNA) of the Federal Government of Somalia (FGS) in Mogadishu was routed from the southern Somali town of Ras Kamboni by the regional forces of Jubaland, a federal member state of Somalia. This conflict provides Shabaab, Al Qaeda’s branch for East Africa, an opportunity to consolidate and rebound from its previous losses.
In the latest issue of its Sada al-Malahem magazine, Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) heaped significant praise on recent operations conducted by Shabaab, Al Qaeda’s branch in East Africa. The article is another data point regarding the open support between these Al Qaeda branches.
In May 2016, the Islamic State (IS) issued a eulogy for the infamous Sudanese jihadist Mohamad Makkawi Ibrahim through its weekly Al-Naba newsletter. The eulogy flew under the radar at the time but offers an interesting look into the career of one of the Islamic State’s first so-called “martyrs” in Somalia. It also provides an early chronicle of the Islamic State’s history in the Horn of Africa.
The Islamic State documents at least 36 clashes between its men and Shabaab, al-Qaeda’s East African wing, between March and December 2023.
The U.S. government designated Abdiweli Mohamed Yusuf, the financial emir of the Islamic State’s Somali Province. This move, however, has much wider implications than just the Islamic State’s Somali operations.
In the face of delayed or stalled offensive action taken against it, Shabaab seeks to rally its forces.
U.S. Special Operations Forces killed Bilal al-Sudani, a key Islamic State operative responsible for coordinating the group’s finances and activities across central, eastern, and southern Africa (and beyond).
Nine individuals were designated by the U.S. Treasury Department while an additional five were also blacklisted by the U.S. State Department.
The Sanaag Region, a territory contested by both Somalia and Somaliland, witnessed its first suicide bombing yesterday. No group has officially taken credit, though Shabaab is widely suspected given its history in the area.
New reporting has shed new light on Shabaab’s recent incursions into Ethiopia. However, many perplexing elements remain uncovered.
Shabaab attempted to kill Somalia’s police chief in yet another suicide bombing in the Somali capital.
The dual suicide bombings targeting an election site in central Somalia comes just one day after a brazen attack on a large military base in Mogadishu.
Four ISIS money men were sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury for providing material support to Islamic State branches across Africa.
One week after a series of suicide bombings in Mogadishu, the US conducts its first drone strike against al-Shabaab since August 2021.
Shabaab launched near simultaneous assaults across 5 areas of Mogadishu and its suburbs, showing the group’s continued strength as Somalia preps for its upcoming presidential election.