Friday January 13, 2023
Garowe (HOL) - Puntland regional police announced that a senior ISIS leader named Abu-Albara Al Amani was killed in an attack in the Bari region on Thursday night.
According to Puntland Police, security forces repulsed an ISIS attack on the army base in the Balidhidhin area, where the group's head of operations, Abu-Albara Al Amani, was killed.
The statement added that Abu-Albara Al Amani was from Ethiopia's Amhara region and was responsible for several Ethiopians to join the Daesh group fighting in the Puntland region.
Local media reported that two other ISIS members and one Puntland soldier were killed in the Balidhidhin village attack. Still, the regional state did not mention any casualties on their side.
Puntland previously stated that its forces killed the head of Daesh operations, Abu Walid Al-Muhajir, after being injured during a sweep conducted by Puntland security forces near the Almiskad mountains.
Puntland officials said that following the killing of Abu Walid Al-Muhajir, the group named Abu Albara as the leader in July 2021, who was also killed during the latest operation on the 12th of this month.
ISIS established a foothold in the Galgala mountain ranges in Puntland in 2015. The group is led by former UK-based preacher Abdulkadir Mumin.
The group has since made limited headways into south-central regions of the country, including the capital Mogadishu but has faced stiff resistance from Al-Shabaab.