Puntland

December 26, 2025 | Edmund Fitton-Brown |

Airstrikes only first step to stop Islamic terrorists on march through Africa

Thursday’s strikes on ISIS targets in Nigeria signal an intensifying American fight against jihadist expansion across Africa. ISIS maintains a presence across the African continent, but...

July 26, 2025 | Caleb Weiss |

US ground raid captures Islamic State leader in northern Somalia

In a brief statement released on Saturday, the United States military’s Africa Command (AFRICOM) confirmed that its forces had “conducted an operation against the ISIS-Somalia terrorist network...

July 16, 2025 | Bill Roggio, Caleb Weiss

Shabaab seizes two towns in central Somalia

Shabaab, Al Qaeda’s branch in East Africa, took control of two towns in central Somalia over the past week. These victories in Moqokori and Tardo, both situated near the borders between the central regions...

March 30, 2025 | Caleb Weiss |

Trump admin ups the tempo of airstrikes against jihadist groups in Somalia

The Trump administration is significantly increasing the rate of American strikes inside Somalia. In just the first three months of President Donald Trump’s second term, his administration has already...

February 5, 2025 | Caleb Weiss |

US, UAE conducting airstrikes in northern Somalia

On February 1, the United States launched at least six airstrikes against the Islamic State (IS) in Somalia’s semi-autonomous northern region of Puntland in support of that region’s current military...

January 1, 2025 | Caleb Weiss |

Islamic State release highlights the foreign-fighter nature of its recent assault in Somalia

A day after the Islamic State Somalia’s (ISS) brazen suicide assault against a Puntland military base—its most audacious attack to date in Somalia—the jihadist group released images of the men it...

December 31, 2024 | Caleb Weiss |

Puntland forces repel Islamic State suicide assault

Earlier today, the Puntland Security Forces (PSF), the armed forces of Somalia’s northern Puntland region, announced thwarting a major assault on a PSF base. Unusually, the attack was not carried out...

December 12, 2024 | Caleb Weiss |

Somali forces turn their weapons on each other

Yesterday, the Somali National Army (SNA) of the Federal Government of Somalia (FGS) in Mogadishu was routed from the southern Somali town of Ras Kamboni. This battle was not with the SNA’s typical enemy—Shabaab,...

December 3, 2024 | Caleb Weiss |

AQAP praises Shabaab’s activities in East Africa

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...

July 5, 2024 | Caleb Weiss |

Jihadi archives: Islamic State’s eulogy of Sudanese jihadist Mohamad Makkawi Ibrahim

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...

February 2, 2024 | Caleb Weiss |

Islamic State describes intense campaign against Shabaab in northern Somalia

In the latest issue of the Islamic State’s weekly Al-Naba newsletter, the global jihadist organization describes in detail a fierce campaign its so-called Somali Province waged against Shabaab, al-Qaeda’s...

July 29, 2023 | Caleb Weiss |

U.S. designates Islamic State financier in Somalia

On Thursday, the United States government sanctioned Abdiweli Mohamed Yusuf, the financial emir for the Islamic State’s Somali Province (or Islamic State-Somalia, ISS). In this capacity, Yusuf was responsible...

January 27, 2023 | Caleb Weiss, Ryan O’Farrell

Analysis: U.S. Military kills key Islamic State leader in Africa

The United States announced yesterday that it conducted a special operations forces (SOF) raid on a hideout of the Islamic State’s branch in Somalia. During the raid, the SOF troops killed Bilal al-Sudani,...

October 16, 2022 | Caleb Weiss |

US government sanctions several Shabaab officials and affiliated individuals

Today the United States government sanctioned a total of 14 individuals belonging to or associated with Shabaab, al Qaeda’s branch in East Africa. The U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned a list of nine...

September 12, 2022 | Caleb Weiss |

Contested area of northern Somalia witnesses rare suicide bombing

At least five people were killed yesterday in a suicide bombing at a crowded cafe in the village of Milxo in the Sanaag Region, a contested area laid claim to by both Somalia and Somaliland. No group has...

December 15, 2020 | Thomas Joscelyn |

The Jihadist Threat Persists

December 11, 2019 | Aykan Erdemir, Varsha Koduvayur

Brothers in Arms

The Consolidation of the Turkey-Qatar Axis

April 15, 2019 | Bill Roggio |

U.S. kills deputy Islamic State leader in Somalia

February 28, 2018 | Clifford D. May

Black lives in Africa

No nation in Africa is receiving more attention right now than Wakanda. And why not since, as Anthony Lane writes in The New Yorker, Wakanda is “a model of serenity,” that also is &ld...

February 21, 2018 | Thomas Joscelyn

Not So Fast

On January 19, the Pentagon released its new National Defense Strategy. The second paragraph of the 14-page declassified summary painted a dire picture. “Today, we are emerging from a perio...