Sunday September 28, 2025
Garowe (HOL) — Puntland President Said Abdullahi Deni said
regional forces have crippled the power of more than 2,000 ISIS fighters in
northeastern Somalia, most of them foreign, during a long-running campaign in
the Calmiskaad Mountains.
In an interview outlining the offensive, Deni said Puntland
intelligence foiled a planned assault on the port city of Bosaso in June after
receiving early warnings of the plot.
The regional leader added that the group, once dug in along
the Jaceel River, has now been reduced to only a few hundred fighters split
into cells of about ten.
“The forces have defeated the militants’ power by 95
percent,” Deni said. He described how ISIS stockpiled weapons and built bases
and small factories to manufacture arms, evidence they intended to entrench
themselves in the region.
The campaign has come at a high cost. Deni said hundreds of
Puntland soldiers were killed and thousands wounded in the fighting. He thanked
the United States and the United Arab Emirates for what he called “visible
support” through airstrikes and intelligence sharing.
ISIS established a foothold in Puntland nearly a decade ago,
though it has remained far smaller than al-Shabaab. Deni’s remarks mark his
most detailed account yet of his administration’s fight against the extremist
group.