The Islamic State group claimed to have carried out its first attack in Somalia, almost a…
The Islamic State group claimed to have carried out its first attack in Somalia, almost a year after it announced its presence in the horn of Africa country.
The group said in a statement that they targeted a convoy of African Union troops with a landmine in the outskirts of the Somali capital, Mogadishu. It didn’t mention when the attack took place and any casualties.
Meanwhile, a Spokesperson from the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) admitted the existence of the attack on Monday.
‘’There was a landmine blast in a conjunction around KM13 after our convoy had already passed the area,’’ said Joseph Kibet in an interview with the VOA Somali Service.
The AMISOM spokesperson refused to agree that ISIS was behind the attack.
‘’Terrorists like to claim responsibility for everything that happens. We didn’t see any members of ISIS. We think that members of al-Shabaab were behind it.’’
Since last year, Islamic State recruiters have been wooing al-Shabab’s leadership to cut ties with al-Qaeda. In May 2015, the Islamic State, popularly known as ISIS, released a short video in which members of Somali origin referred to al-Shabab fighters as “truthful mujahideen” and urged them to join their transnational state.
In December, militants that pledged allegiance to ISIS clashed with al-Shabaab fighters in a remote area in the autonomous region after their brewing hostility turned violent.
Pro-ISIS militants who pledged allegiance in August is led by Abdulkadir Mumin, who once lived in London but left to join al-Shabaab in 2010.
Dozens of Somali boys and girls have left their homes in western countries to join the Islamic state fighters in Syria and Iraq.
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