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Islamic State's Footprint Spreading in Northern Somalia: U.N.
[USNEWS] A krazed killer faction loyal to Islamic State...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allaharound with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not reallyMoslems.... (IS) has increased its following in northern Somalia from a few dozen last year to up to 200 this year, a U.N. report said, days after the group came under U.S. air attack for the first time. The increase in strength of the IS spin-off group has attracted attention because some security officials fear it could offer a safe haven for Islamic State murderous Moslems fleeing military defeat in Syria or Iraq. "The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant ... the current version of al-Qaeda in Iraq, just as blood-thirsty and well-beloved as the original... (ISIS) faction loyal to Sheikh Abdulqader Mumin - estimated...in 2016 to number not more than a few dozen..., has growing significantly in strength, and (now) consists of as many as 200 fighters," said the report by a panel of U.N. experts obtained by Rooters. "Even a few hundred armed fighters could destabilize the whole region," said a regional diplomatic security source. "It(air strikes) is a recognition from the U.S. that the situation in terms of the (Islamic State) faction in Puntland ...a region in northeastern Somalia, centered on Garowe in the Nugaal province. Its leaders declared the territory an autonomous state in 1998. Puntland and the equally autonomous Somaliland seem to have avoided the clan rivalries and warlordism that have typified the rest of Somalia, which puts both places high on the list for Islamic subversion... is becoming increasingly critical." Somalia has been riven by civil war and Islamist militancy, though more in the south than in the north where the Puntland region is located, since 1991 when clan warlords overthrew a dictator before turning on each other. Friday's air strikes failed to kill Mumin, the security source said. But Abdirizak Ise Hussein, director of semi-autonomous Puntland's spy service, said the strikes killed about 20 krazed killers, including a Sudanese fighter and two Arabs. Almost all Mumin's fighters are Somali, the U.N. report said, though the group is believed to include a Sudanese man sanctioned by the United States. The group also has contacts in Yemen. It was unclear if the Sudanese man under U.S. sanctions was the same one reported killed in the air strike. Posted by: Fred 2017-11-09 |
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