It's not visited much but the Galgala hills west of Bossaso in Puntland have fresh water, frankincense trees and access to the ocean. The sandy Bari Mountains to the are also a remote area for insurgents. Poverty, neglect and a few dollars have created a healthy IS franchise.
There is suppression of Islamic State propaganda to the west but shared in Africa by many. The IS is building rapidly from Mozambique to DRC to Kenya to Somalia along with AQ factions. In addition to their attacks on govt forces, AQ and IS clash in Somalia ctc.usma.edu/reigniting-riv…
"Wilayah Somal" IS can amplify a dozen kids in cool uniforms to attract more. Their camp is called “Abu Bakr al-Qurashi and Abu al-Hasan al-Muhajir” and is located between Dhaadaar and Bashaashin in Puntland. IS Somalia doesn't understand tactics or geolocation. Expect drones. 
It doesn't take long to find their "camp" but it's not really a camp. Just like the CIA contractors take the PIS guys out to a "range" which is really just far enough out of town so not to shoot a camel herder by mistake. There is nothing to attack out there the target is Bosaso
Trivia: The illegal Puntland project set up by Erik Prince in Bosaso was not linked to the CIA project based in town, but the UAE bought more air assets than the Ugandans had in Mog as AMISOM. The UAE shut it down and Erik fled leaving unpaid bills but it still exists.
In 2016 the PMPF were involved in "retaking" Qandala. I liked Qandala, very old school town and rear base for Al Qaeda in Yemen but really just a bunch off pissed off locals who needed some basic help. More like a Sergio Leone movie set.
The Islamic State took over Qandala Abdul Qadir Mumin dumped al-Shabaab and joined IS in 2015. About 60 men were able to take control of Qandala in Oct 2016. They were kicked out in Dec. Of course the number of IS mushroomed to 300 )) Qandala has history en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qandala_c…
I know this sounds esoteric but wandering around the stone buildings of the coast, you can understand the appeal of Mohammed Abdullah Hassan the "Mad Mullah". The same threads that the west invents with AQ and IS repeat. css.ethz.ch/en/services/di…
Mohammed Abdullah Hassan not only frustrated the colonialists and rallied Somalis. He was bombed from the air. "The British faced an enemy "who offered no target for attack, no city, no fort, no land…in short, there was no tangible military objective," newsweek.com/muhammad-abdil…
