Somali security forces kill more than 60 ISIS fighters in Puntland state

MOGADISHU, Somalia

Security forces in Somalia’s northeastern semiautonomous state of Puntland said Tuesday that they killed more than 60 ISIS (Daesh) terrorists.

Gen. Mohamoud Fadhigo, spokesperson for the Puntland Counter-Terrorism Operation, told reporters that operations involved a coordinated air and ground assault against the terrorists in the mountainous area of the Bari region.

“The operation against the terrorists continues and the latest fighting in the Haraaryo area killed between 60 to 65 terrorists,” he said.

Although he did not specify the exact number of security forces killed during the operation, he sent his “condolences to those who were martyred defending the country against the terrorists.”

Security forces repelled ISIS attacks that used suicide bombers on a military base in the Bari region earlier Tuesday.

Media reports said that more than 15 attackers, including suicide bombers, were killed in the attack.

“This morning, the Puntland Counter-Terrorism Operation Forces defeated ISIS terrorists in direct combat in the Haraaryo area of the Cal Miskaad mountains,” the counterterrorism forces wrote on X.

Meanwhile, the United States Africa Command (AFRICOM) said Tuesday that a Feb. 1 airstrike it carried out against ISIS killed 14 terrorists, including a senior leader.

The airstrike targeted senior ISIS-Somalia leadership in a series of cave complexes approximately 50 miles (80 kilometers) southeast of the port city of Bosaso, the capital of the northeastern Bari region.

Among those killed was Ahmed Maeleninine, a key ISIS recruiter, financier and external operations leader “responsible for the deployment of jihadists into the United States and across Europe.”

Security forces have been conducting operations against the terrorist group for more than a month, liberating large areas from its control.

Somalia has been plagued by insecurity for years, with the main threats emanating from the terror groups al-Shabaab and ISIS.

Since 2007, al-Shabaab has been fighting the Somali government and the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS) -- a multidimensional mission authorized by the African Union and mandated by the UN Security Council.

The terrorist group has stepped up attacks since Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud declared an "all-out war" on it.