MOGADISHU (Reuters) – A senior commander of Islamic State’s Somalia wing was captured on Monday, police and state media said, two days after the IS leadership was targeted with U.S. airstrikes and as security forces continue a weeks-long offensive against them.
In the last few years Somalia’s IS franchise has become an increasingly important part of the jihadist group’s worldwide network, growing in strength because of an influx of foreign fighters and improved revenue collection.
During an attack on a military base in December the group claimed to have used two booby-trapped vehicles, which security analysts said implied the adoption of more sophisticated tactics.
Abdirahman Shirwac Aw-Saciid, head of the group’s assassination squad, surrendered to authorities on Monday in the Cal Miskaad mountains, in the northeastern Puntland state, Somalia’s state news agency SONNA reported.
The head of police in Puntland’s Bari region, Abdikadir Jama Dirir, confirmed the capture of the commander, known by the alias “Laahoor”, who was also in charge of extorting local businesses for the group.
Somalia’s northeastern Puntland region announced a major offensive against Islamic State and a rival Islamist group, the al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab, in December and claims to have since captured several IS bases.
An initial assessment of Saturday’s airstrikes by the U.S. indicated many militants were killed, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said on Sunday.
Until recently, Islamic State’s Somalia wing was considered a minor security threat in the Horn of Africa country compared with al Shabaab, which controls swathes of southern Somalia.
Somali authorities are struggling to reassert control following more than three decades of civil war and lawlessness triggered by the overthrow of President Siad Barre.
(Reporting by Feisal Omar; Writing by Hereward Holland; Editing by Ros Russell)
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