...... al-Qaeda's tentacle in East Africa..., making it difficult for the world to effectively deal with the fight against terrorism.
While designating key members of IS-Somalia Death Eaters, the department accused them of being part of a "terrorist weapons trafficking network" across East Africa. While IS-Somalia is in small sections of 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...
in Somalia, al-Shabaab is predominant in the country.
Those designated, the US said, have been selling weapons to active
The al-Qaeda-linked Islamist group grabbed credit for two boom-mobiles that went
kaboom!outside the education ministry in Somalia's capital Mogadishu on Saturday, killing at least 128 people in the deadliest blasts since a truck bomb killed more than 500 people at the same location five years ago.
Washington is keen to help Somalia effectively fight terrorism, with disruption of financial networks being key in the latest strategy. In Somalia, President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud has warned business owners against funding al-Shabaab turbans and other terror groups.
Tuesday's move was the first targeting IS-Somalia turbans who are limited to mountainous regions of Bari within Puntland, whose activities have been intensifying lately. In 2018, the US State Department officially designated the Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really 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 western pols talk they're not
reallyMoslems....
in Somalia as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist.
The Treasury said the Islamic State in Somalia "commonly works with other terrorist organizations" such as al-Shabaab and
Somali pirates and smuggling groups."Many of the relevant individuals are also involved in other illegal activities, including piracy and environmental crimes, demonstrating their integration with illicit networks operating in the region," State Department spokesperson Ned Price said in a separate statement.
Those designated on Tuesday include Abdirahman Mohammed Omar, whom the Treasury accused of being an ISIS-Somalia member and, as of 2020, considered the most active illicit arms importer in Puntland state in Somalia, Rooters reports.
Also designated was Isse Mohamoud Yusuf, who Treasury said is an ISIS-Somalia weapons and logistics controller in Bari in Puntland and an arms smuggler; Abdirahman Fahiye Isse Mohamud, who it said is an ISIS-Somalia emir; and Mohammed Ahmed Qahiye, who Treasury said is the head of the Amniyat, al-Shabaab's intelligence wing, among others.
Somalia has been battling with