The Islamic State branch in Somalia has pledged allegiance to the jihadist group’s new leader, Abu al Hussein al Husseini al Quraishi, while vowing to expand its operations in the country, amid the latest offensives by the army and local militias against the Al Shabaab terrorist group.
According to information gathered by the Somali news portal Garowe Online, the group has published photographs of its members swearing allegiance to the new ‘caliph’ of the Islamic State, without the leader of this branch, Abdulkadir Mumin, having made an official statement on the matter.
The oath of allegiance comes days after Islamic State announced the death of its leader, Abu al Hassan al Hashemi al Quraishi, in an operation in Syria and confirmed Abu al Hussein al Huseini al Quraishi as the new leader, with no further details on his identity.
The Somali branch of Islamic State emerged in October 2015 after a group of al Shabaab militiamen splintered from the group and focuses its operations in Puntland. Despite Mumin pledging allegiance to then Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the latter did not respond and did not name him as the person in charge of the extremist formation’s branch in the country.
