The Washington Post reported this week that the Islamic State terror group “has regrouped in Somalia — and has global ambitions.”
VOA News In coordination with the Federal Government of Somalia, U.S. Africa Command conducted airstrikes against ISIS-Somalia on Feb. 01, 2025. The joint airstrikes targeted senior ISIS-Somalia leadership in a series of cave complexes approximately 50 miles southeast of Bosaso.
The command’s current assessment is that approximately 14 ISIS-Somalia operatives were killed and no civilians were harmed. Among those killed was Ahmed Maeleninine, a key ISIS recruiter, financier, and external operations leader responsible for the deployment of jihadists into the United States and across Europe.
In a statement, AFRICOM described Maeleninine as a “recruiter, financier, and external operations leader responsible for the deployment of jihadists into the United States and across Europe.” In an interview with VOA Somali, the Puntland state minister for presidency, Abdifitah Mohamed Abdinur, said Somalia and its international security partners had been watching Maeleninine’s movements in the region.
“He was an Omani-born man in his 40s who was wanted for international crimes and his movements and activities have been followed at least for the last two years, as he was hiding in the mountainous area of Puntland,” Abdinur said. “He was a thorn removed from the flesh of Somalis and the world population, and he eventually tasted what he deserved.”
The U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) confirmed late Tuesday that Maeleninine and 13 other operatives linked to the Islamic State — also known as IS, ISIL or Daesh — were killed in the Feb. 1 operation, which it said was run in coordination with the Somali government.
Degrading ISIS and other terrorist organizations’ ability to plot and conduct attacks that threaten the U.S. homeland, our partners, and civilians remains central to U.S. Africa Command’s mission.
The Somali branch has simultaneously become more influential under the leadership of Abdulkadir Mumin, a former militant with al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabab, who is thought to head ISIS’s directorate of provinces, overseeing the terror group’s affiliates in Africa.
During the Biden Regime, ISIS increased its presence in Somalia, while ISIS-Somalia has become a key cog in the ISIS financial network, funneling money to affiliates in Afghanistan and elsewhere in Africa.
In his Truth Social post, Trump took a swipe at the Biden administration for failing to clean ISIS out of the country. “Our Military has targeted this ISIS Attack Planner for years, but Biden and his cronies wouldn’t act quickly enough to get the job done,” he bragged. “I did!”
ISIS terrorists are known for their enslavement of foreign women:
“We have Yazidi women, Kurdish women, Christian women! Come and take what your right hand has the right to possess [Surah 23 Verse 1-6], a sex slave!
Our brave fighters went to capture them by killing their disbelieving husbands!”
Sick culture! pic.twitter.com/IuE1GKCExq
— Dr. Maalouf (@realMaalouf) February 12, 2025
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