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When ambulances arrived to transport to hospital a group of soldiers that had been wounded in a fierce battle between Puntland troops and ISIS, Colonel Mukhtar Ahmed Farah, alias Gagale, a high-ranking commander, was among those who had sustained injuries. But Gagale told paramedics not to include him in the first batch of soldiers they were about to transfer, directing them to prioritise others who, in his view, were in a state worse than his. Injured and awaiting the return of the ambulances, Gagale continued fighting.
The ambulances returned to find that the Colonel was among a number of soldiers that had succumbed to their injuries. The dead also included Gagale’s younger brother, a fellow serviceman. The siblings had lost their older brother in a fight against the Al-Shabaab terrorist group some years prior. This tragic incident was a painful reminder of the steep price Puntland’s soldiers and their families are paying in the fight against global terrorists.
ISIS in Puntland: The history
The ISIS affiliate first emerged in Puntland around 2015 and stationed themselves in the Bari region’s strategic Cal-Miskaad mountain range. Their founding members in Somalia – consisting of majority non-Somalis – are believed to have defected from the more powerful Al-Shabaab terrorist group. It is also believed that many of the ISIS fighters that survived purging campaigns in Syria and Iraq have found their way to Somalia.
The mountainous region the terrorists settled in is some of Somalia’s most difficult-to-manoeuvre terrain. A natural fortress with some mountain peaks reaching heights of nearly 7,000 feet above sea level, the region is agriculturally rich, with abundant sources of water from the numerous natural water springs in the valleys.
While difficult to establish with certainty, the terrorists’ numbers are estimated at between 700 and 800 fighters. The group’s make-up is intriguing because, even though they’re based in Somalia, Somalis constitute only a minority within its ranks, with foreigners of Arab and African descent being the overwhelming majority.
Over the years, their influence has been particularly felt in the port city of Bosaso, Puntland’s economic hub. Targeted assassinations aside, the group has raked in millions in extortion money from businesses, threatening with death anyone that doesn’t pay up, a threat they have seldom failed to carry out.
At its apogee, the group was bringing in money surpluses beyond what they required to run their terror operations, allowing them to finance other extremist groups in Africa, including Boko Haram in West Africa and ISIS cells in Mozambique. This has earned their Somali leader, Abdulkadir Mumin, a good name in the world of terrorists, with unconfirmed reports surfacing in 2024 that he had been anointed the global caliph of ISIS.
Puntland’s offensive: A template for defeating terror
It took the cooperation of more than 30 countries to expel ISIS fighters from Iraq and Syria. Unlike other terrorist organisations, ISIS includes within its ranks experts capable of manufacturing lethal, low-cost, modern weapons. This capability has made them one of the most dangerous terror groups in recent years. But Puntland is showing that a military with limited resources and manpower can defeat global terrorists.
In December 2024, Puntland launched a massive military operation (code-named Hillaac – thunderstorm) that had been months in the making. Aimed at eradicating ISIS’s burgeoning presence in the state, the operation was initiated with minimal outside support and relied on grassroots community mobilisation. Puntland President Said Deni has been holding regular meetings with stakeholders from the region including clan elders, businessmen and Imams. The message has been a simple one: “Endorse us in the existential war we’re about to wage against a powerful and sophisticated foe.” As the launch of the operation loomed, Deni moved to the town of Carmo, where the state’s troops were amassed, in order to take part in the planning and be close to the frontline.
The community’s response was positive, with locals generously donating livestock and food to the soldiers, and the diaspora pitching in with millions in funding to help finance the operation. For their part, religious leaders used their podiums to hail the government’s anti-terror operation, with talk about the offensive regularly dominating Friday sermons in Puntland’s mosques. As the holy month of Ramadan neared, the state’s leading religious figure, Sheikh Mohamud Haji Yusuf, issued an edict exempting fighting soldiers from fasting. This was meant to avoid any let-up in the operation’s ferocity and intensity.
This operation, whose driving factors have been political will and public backing, has thus far resulted in the confirmed death of over 100 terrorists, and the surrender of key figures within the group. The government has announced that the casualties have been disproportionately non-Somalis. Fighting is taking place in a terrain that renders the use of military vehicles and technical equipment ineffective, and therefore, soldiers have to scale the mountains and inspect caves on foot.
To slow down the onslaught, ISIS deployed explosive-laden drones and cars, and suicide bombers. And to make things more difficult, retreating terrorists heavily mined the land and this, according to the state, has been the primary source of casualties, resulting in the deaths of some 60 Puntland soldiers.
But none of this has discouraged the state’s troops, who have captured over 50 ISIS bases, driving the terrorists out of about 300 square kilometres of land. The troops have uncovered command centres in caves and hideouts housing stockpiles of foodstuffs and military ordnance left behind by ISIS. In one location, soldiers found a trove of about 2,000 inchoate rockets that the ISIS fighters had left behind as they fled.
Limited outside support
Puntland state officials have repeatedly expressed lack of support from Somalia’s federal government, stating that the federal government has at times tried to impede their pleas for global support.
Of the foreign actors, Ethiopia and the United Arab Emirates have been the principal backers of the operation. Puntland’s seriously injured soldiers are flown to Addis Ababa for advanced healthcare, while Abu Dhabi has been supporting the offensive with aerial strikes. The US too has provided aerial support and conducted a series of significant airstrikes believed to have wiped out some of the group’s top leadership. The strikes, initially few and far between, have lately intensified and picked up pace, but as Puntland enters the third phase of the campaign, it continues to grapple with lack of basic materials such as mine detectors and reconnaissance UAVs.
Post-ISIS: What then?
Puntland’s military gains offer Somalia and other terrorism-ridden regions a template to adopt in the face of extremism that is based on the premise that combatting terrorism shouldn’t be “projectised” and nor should foreign intervention be necessarily expected, that sheer willingness, grit and public support can go far in defeating terrorism, even if the weapons employed are primitive.
But once the operation is over, and lest the terrorists return, the government must consolidate its victory by tackling the underlying causes of terrorism. It must address grievances and injustices, create jobs for unemployed youth, and foster greater political inclusion.
