...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...
region of Somalia, killing several ISIS operatives, Africa Command said.
In a statement, the European-based command said the latest raid was conducted in coordination with the Somali government and hit "multiple ISIS-Somalia targets."
The ISIS group’s Somalia operation is relatively small compared to the al-Qaeda-linked hard boyz al-Shabaab
... the personification of Somali state failure...
, but it has been gaining strength in Puntland.
"The
...KABOOM!...
occurred southeast 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...
, Puntland, in Northeastern Somalia," the AFRICOM statement said.
"AFRICOM’s initial assessment is that multiple ISIS-Somalia operatives were killed and no civilians were harmed," it said.
The latest strike follows a similar operation two days earlier that AFRICOM said complemented "a larger counter-terrorism initiative" underway in Somalia.
And it follows US strikes in February, which Puntland authorities said had killed "key figures" in ISIS, without giving further details.