True to its slogan of ‘remaining and expanding’, Islamic State terrorist group has been struggling to penetrate East Africa since 2015. Its initial fist fight with arch-rival Al-Shabaab in Somalia, hampered its growth strategy in the region. Such a conflict between terrorist groups is music to the ears of security agencies, which they exploit to degrade their capabilities. And Kenyan security agencies are credited to be the masters in this game with considerable success in infiltrating both ISIS and Al-Shabaab for purposes of thwarting planned attacks.
In the ensuing supremacy battle between the extremist groups, Islamic State in Somalia (IS-Somalia) got an edge by receiving some defectors from Al-Shabaab. Sheikh Abdulqadir Mumin was among the defectors who was then serving as Al-Shabaab ideological leader, a position considered influential within terror groups circles. He worked with a handful of local terrorists and foreign fighters to establish IS-Somalia in Puntland in a desperate attempt to catch the eye of the global ISIS leadership. IS-Somalia continues to survive despite threat of decimation from Somalia Security Forces and partners as well its competitor Al-Shabaab. Sheikh Mumin forced his way to top leadership of IS-Somalia despite life threatening onslaught to both his personal life and the terror group.
United States Government has since designated Sheikh Mumin as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist and is wanted dead or alive. US has been conducting air strikes in Somalia targeting him and other IS-Somalia terrorists, resulting to a good number of them being successfully neutralized. In May 2024, Sheikh Mumin survived death by a whisker during an airstrike conducted by US Forces in Puntland, which was part of concerted global efforts to fight terrorism.
With the mystery surrounding the fate of leader of ISIS Abu Hafs al-Hashimi al-Qurashi, Sheikh Mumin is already salivating to succeed him to play in the global stage. East Africa needs to take interest in this development as Sheikh Mumin can sponsor attacks in the region to prove his worth to be promoted to the IS global network. This is not far-fetched as already there is renewed IS activities in Puntland region of Somalia, which is considered its stronghold. In order to mitigate the threat, Somalia Security Forces, Puntland Defense Forces and partners are currently involved in robust counter-terrorism in the affected areas. The joint forces have registered battlefield successes including destroying military bases in areas like Cal-Miskaad, recovering weaponry, killing the terrorists and capturing others.
The losses put IS-Somalia down but not out. It remains a threat especially with the dirty money under its control, which is critical in powering terror activities. Some of IS-Somalia sources of funds include donations from terrorism financiers, extorting businesses in Bosasso seaport city and gold smuggling. It is using such illicit money to venture into other East African countries like Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia and Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
Nowhere this ISIS threat is more manifested in the region other than radicalization and recruitment of vulnerable youth into terrorism. Kenya’s proximity to Somalia, which is playground for extremist groups, makes it vulnerable to terrorist activities. The terrorist group is luring young people with quick money and promise of utopian opportunities including scholarships and jobs. Kenyan security agencies have warned of increased recruitment from areas not traditionally affected by terrorism such as Siaya, Nakuru, Kisii, Kakamega and Nyeri. ISIS seeks to create cells in these areas and work with facilitation networks to smuggle the recruits to go fight in countries like Somalia, Mozambique and DRC as foreign fighters.
ISIS is both active offline and online with social media being one of the preferred means of spreading propaganda and recruitment. Some of the common online platforms exploited by terrorists to leverage on cool factor include Facebook, Telegram, Signal and WhatsApp. Over the years, it has taken the efforts of hawk-eyed Kenyan security agencies to pre-empt planned ISIS attacks in the country. A number of Kenyan youth have been arrested at the Kenyan border and other destinations while enroute to join ISIS in Libya, Somalia or DRC. The drill is to train some of the recruits and deploy them back home to launch attacks due to the understanding of the local dynamics.
However, heightened intelligence-led counter-terrorism operations under stewardship of special units like dreaded Special Operations Group (SOG) and other security agencies have kept ISIS threat at bay. In 2016, Kenyan security agencies thwarted one of the major ISIS biological weapon attacks in the country. Last year, a Nairobi court jailed ISIS terrorist Mohamed Abdi Ali alias Abu Fidaa for twelve (12) for plotting anthrax terror attack. He was convicted for being a member of ISIS terror group, organizing a meeting in support of terrorist group, recruitment of members to a terrorist group, collection of information and possession of articles connected with the commission of terrorist act, which are offences under Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA). He was was a leader of ISIS network in Kenya with links in countries such as Somalia, Libya and Syria.
In order to support the fight against terrorism, citizens are encouraged to report terrorism activities to security agencies for action including cases of missing youth suspected to have been recruited into terrorism or returnees. Terrorism being a transnational crime, states need to collaborate more to share intelligence and conduct joint operations to deal with terror groups like ISIS.
