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Africa Horn

REPORT: ISIS militants in Somalia accumulate $6 million through extortion

2024-09-13

[Garowe] Considered as 'small but threatening', the IS-Somalia terror network has accumulated close to $6 million within the last two years, a report by the International Crisis Group (ICG) estimates, noting the group’s ambitious plans to expand its territory.

Presently, the IS-Somalia group operates within the Bari region 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...
and has close to 500 fighters, with a number of them believed to be foreign nationals. The group intends to expand its territory by courting locals through incentives such as the provision of basic commodities.

But despite the financial muscles which are on an upward trajectory, the monetary dealings of the group remain opaque and cannot be properly established and traced, the ICG report observes in the middle of the increasing threats from the group.

"In Puntland, it generates funds by extorting businesses in the seaport city of Bosasso
...Puntland's major (maybe only) port, population about 250,000, most of them shady characters who hang around waterfront dives and carry knives and brass knuckles...
, as well as by helping export small quantities of gold mined in Bari. The U.S. government claims that IS-Somalia has piled up $6 million since 2022. The group also handles the transfer of funds among a range of IS-linked offices and cells," reads part of the report.

UN reports suggest that the organization has funneled money from 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 Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not really Moslems....
’s traditional territorial core, in Iraq and Syria, to affiliates in Africa, as well as from its coffers to other branches. Several sources have told Crisis Group that the group has sent money to groups as far afield as IS-Khorasan Province in Afghanistan.

These transactions prodded the U.S. government to pay greater attention to IS-Somalia’s financial network. In January 2023, the U.S. military conducted a raid in Puntland that killed the presumed key controller for the Al Karrar office, Bilal al-Sudani, the report says.

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin released a statement saying al-Sudani "was responsible for fostering the growing presence of ISIS in Africa and for funding the group’s operations worldwide, including in Afghanistan".

It is unclear to what extent the operation disrupted the network’s financial dealings, but it seems that IS-Somalia managed to rebuild. Somali and foreign security officials note that IS-Somalia is still making transfers: although the group works on a smaller scale than al-Shabaab
... Somalia's version of the Taliban, functioning as an arm of al-Qaeda...
, the latter is not thought to be sending funds to jihadists abroad in the same way.

In May, the U.S. struck IS-Somalia once again, killing three holy warriors but missing Mumin, the primary target. The group has also failed to make significant progress due to concerted efforts by regional military teams in Puntland who have confined them to around Golis mountains.

IS-Somalia has been trying to recruit more imported muscle with Yemen
...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of...
is and Æthiopians being the culprits. However,
a person who gets all wrapped up in himself makes a mighty small package...
the US Africa Command has worked closely with local authorities to prevent the group from infiltrating critical regions as a strategy to suppress it further.

The group, however, does not have much financial influence as opposed to its rivals, the al-Shabaab, who are dominant in central and southern regions. A report by the United Nations
...an idea whose time has gone...
suggests that al-Shabaab makes up to $130 million annually.

Of this amount, $24 million goes to the purchase of weapons with the remaining going to logistical operations. However,
a person who gets all wrapped up in himself makes a mighty small package...
the government of Somalia has devised various counterterrorism strategies, including closing bank accounts and mobile money transfer firms linked to the group to minimize its activities.

Posted by:trailing wife

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