Sunday 28 Sep 2025 {HMC} 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.
source hiiraan online
