IS-Somalia, which is distantly behind Al-Shabab in the field of jihadi-insurgency in East Africa, released a new propaganda video today showing off, primarily, Ethiopian & Swahili-speaking militants + the requisite somersaulting, jumping, running, crawling training camp footage:
The training camp was named after a dead military trainer, 'Abu Dawud al-Somali." The propaganda film features Amharic and Swahili-speaking fighters including a number identified as being from Ethiopia, some delivering domestic/localized sectarian messaging.
The video includes footage of poetry/nashid recitations by Amharic & Swahili-speaking IS-Somalia militants. The video also includes footage from IS-Somalia assassinations in southern Somalia & bay'a footage to the new IS chief.
The film, unsurprisingly, also blasts Al-Shabab (note the crossing out of "mujahideen" in the IS rival's name in the image below) & rejects its (Dec. 2018) lengthy blasting of IS as a "cancer" & spreader (mufsid) of fitna:
Training camp named after trainer "Dawud al-Somali";
A Somali IS-S militant rejects Al-Shabab's previous allegations that the "State" is in league with apostate and "kufr" forces, followed by graphic footage of an execution of a government (Puntland?) soldier & assassinations.
The late IS-Somalia militant Abu Zubayr al-Habashi with the group's amir, Shaykh 'Abdi Qadir Mu'min:
Abu Muslim al-Muhajir, a now dead IS-Somalia militant from the city of Adama in Ethiopia's Oromia region:
Abu Muslim al-Muhajir said he was a Christian and worked at a church before converting to Islam in 2012, then beginning his own da'wa locally before joining the Muslim Brotherhood, going to prison, becoming a "Murji'a," was introduced to IS-Somalia by a school friend & joined.
Abu Muslim al-Muhajir's first-person autobiographical sketch highlights the importance of inter-personal networks in his decisions to both convert to Islam and, later, to join IS-Somalia.
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In a new video, IS-Somalia released footage showing, it says, a multi-hour battle in the Cal Miskaad Mountains between insurgents & Somali Puntland regional state forces backed by U.S. forces and air strikes:
THREAD 🧵
The "battle" was defensive on IS-Somalia's part, with the militant group saying it was "repelling" a Puntland state attack, aided by U.S. forces & air power, on it in the Cal Miskaad Mountains;
IS-Somalia also shows the training of a handful of fighters it says make up one of its "security detachments," units tasked with assassinations, planting IEDs, & conducting surveillance on Somali government & ATMIS forces, including in & around Mogadishu:
In 2022, Islamic State (IS) claims it or its affiliates carried out 2,058 attacks globally causing 6,881 casualties (killed & wounded), destroying 2,310 houses or residences, 156 heat-sensor cameras (mostly in Iraq), & 865 vehicles of various types.
THREAD 🧵
Islamic State (IS) claims it carried out attacks in Yemen (1), Uganda (1), Benin (2), Indian-administered Kashmir/"Hind" (2), Iran (2), Palestine (1), Cameroon (7), Philippines (6), Burkina Faso (4), Libya (3), Mali (22), Somalia (32),
THREAD 🧵
Islamic State (IS) claims it carried out attacks also in: Niger (11), Chad (10), the DRC Congo (167), Mozambique (156), Egypt (95), Pakistan (58), Iraq (484), Syria (297), Nigeria (517), & Afghanistan (181);
IS-Mozambique claims it attacked a "Christian" village in the Palma area in Cabo Delgado province two days ago, killing 2 villagers:
IS-Mozambique claims it attacked a joint Mozambican & Tanzanian army patrol in an ambush in Palma, Cabo Delgado province, destroying 3 vehicles and seizing weapons & ammunition:
IS-Mozambique claims it attacked a joint Mozambican & Tanzanian army patrol in an ambush in Palma, Cabo Delgado province, destroying 3 vehicles and seizing weapons & ammunition:
Starting in 2011, Al-Shabaab began withdrawing, after publicly announcing its intention to do so, from Mogadishu & continued to withdraw from major urban centers in the face of a major AMISOM & Somali government, backed by allied militias in some areas, offensive.
🧵THREAD
AS generally did not choose to make "last stands," unlike Islamic State in Mosul and (to a lesser extent) Raqqa city in 2016-2017, perhaps having learned its lesson during disastrous "Ramadan offensives" in previous years. Insurgent operations & media were interrupted.
🧵THREAD
Today AS is facing a major threat to its territorial occupation & presence in a number of regions (e.g. Hiraan, Galguduud) as Somali federal forces, some clan militias, & ATMIS forces ramp up pressure across multiple regions in an attempt to stretch insurgent forces.
Al-Shabaab funery prayer (salat al-janaza) & burial of Shaykh Nur Mu'alim 'Abdi Rahman, a religious scholar affiliated with the Islamic Courts Union & then Al-Shabaab.
A thread🧵:
Born in 1960/1961 (1380 hijri) in Adan Yabal, Middle Shabelle, he studied in Mogadishu & later at the University of Science and Technology in Yemen & Sudan, memorizing the Qur'an & studying Arabic grammar, Qur'anic exegesis (tafsir), & Shafi'i fiqh.
In his final years, he was active in religious missionary propagation (da'wa), influencing many of the "mujahidin & martyrdom-seekers" through his lectures in local mosques.
Al-Shabaab Juba wali Mohamed Abu 'Abdullah led the janaza prayer for the shaykh.