The Islamic State on Wednesday claimed responsibility for Tuesday’s attack on a Somali military base in the Puntland region — but remained silent on the New Year’s Day terror attack in New Orleans, whose perpetrator carried an ISIS flag in his pickup truck.
ISIS claimed at least 22 military personnel were killed in the Puntland attack, which began with a string of suicide bombings and car bombs in the eastern village of Dharjale.
National and regional government officials would not immediately confirm the casualty count, but local media reports said 18 soldiers were killed and 30 were injured, some of them critically. Eight ISIS fighters and an uncertain number of civilians were also killed in the attack.
“Photos purported to be of dead militants show severed heads, and burned and mutilated flesh, indicating the use of a massive explosive device,” Voice of America News (VOA) reported.
Puntland officials indicated in December they were preparing to begin a sustained operation against ISIS militants in the area, so the attack may have been seen as a pre-emptive strike by the terrorist organization. Somali and U.S. security officials agree that the Islamic State has substantially increased its numbers in Somalia, including both local recruits and foreign fighters.
In its claim of responsibility for the attack, ISIS boasted that just twelve of its fighters were responsible for the terrible damage. According to Puntland counter-terrorism officials, nine of the attackers were suicide bombers who died after detonating their payloads.
ISIS also boasted that fighters from seven different nations were involved in the attack on the Somali military camp, including Libya, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Tanzania, Tunisia, and Yemen.
The Islamic State in Somalia, founded in Puntland in 2015 by defectors from Somalia’s premier terrorist gang al-Shabaab, has grown into a major power center for ISIS even though it remains fairly small in manpower terms. Even after the growth described by American and Somali security officials, ISIS-Somalia has six hundred active members at most.
After surviving al-Shabbab’s efforts to destroy or absorb it, ISIS-Somalia became an important logistical and financial hub for ISIS activities across Africa and around the world. ISIS-Somalia excels at raising large amounts of cash through extortion rackets, which it uses to fund ISIS activities in other theaters. Its success at recruiting foreign fighters is due in part to the growing popularity and influence of its leader, Abdulqadir Mumin, who has become one of the top Islamic State leaders worldwide.
While it was quick to claim responsibility for the attack in Somalia, ISIS has been quiet on the topic of New Orleans, where accused terrorist Shamsud-din Jabbar allegedly carried an ISIS flag in his truck when he drove through a crowd of revelers on Bourbon Street, killing 14 and injuring 30 more. Jabbar himself was shot dead by police at the scene.
In his brief statement on the New Orleans horror, outgoing President Joe Biden said Jabbar was “inspired by ISIS” to commit his “despicable attack.”
Biden said he was briefed by the FBI that Jabbar “posted videos on social media indicating he was inspired by ISIS” and “expressing a desire to kill.” He also mentioned the ISIS flag found in the killer’s truck.
FBI official Christopher Raia said Thursday that his agency now believes Jabbar acted alone, after having offered a contrary assessment on Wednesday.
Raia said Jabbar’s social media activity included proclamations of fealty to the Islamic State, along with a comment that his original plan involved hurting members of his own family, but he decided such a limited crime would not have highlighted the “war between the believers and the disbelievers.” However, Raia said the FBI has not found any evidence that Jabbar was actively coordinating with ISIS members.
Although it was greatly weakened after the destruction of its “caliphate” in Iraq and Syria, and the death of its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in an operation ordered by President Donald Trump during his first term, ISIS has still managed to pull off lethal attacks in Iran, Russia, and Oman over the past year, plus the latest attack in Somalia. ISIS usually does not hesitate to claim responsibility for a terrorist act, or embrace perpetrators as its “soldiers.”
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