state

Puntland State’s new anti-terror law tests a familiar bargain: more security, fewer liberties The ink is barely dry in Garowe. With a stroke of the pen on October 8, Puntland State President Said Abdullahi Deni signed into law a sweeping anti-terrorism bill that grants security agencies powers long sought, and just as fiercely debated. The legislation, approved by the regional parliament in late July, is now published in the official gazette and enforceable across Puntland State’s cities, coasts and mountain ranges. This…

Puntland State forces detain Turkish national in anti-ISIS sweep in Bari BOSASO, Somalia — Puntland State security forces said Wednesday they captured a Turkish national during a counterterrorism operation in the rugged Baalade valley of the Bari region, part of a sustained campaign to flush Islamic State-linked militants from the Cal‑Miskaad mountains. Authorities identified the detainee as Feyzul Hashim Suleyman. He is the second Turkish citizen to be seized by Puntland State forces in recent weeks; another Turkish…

Puntland State launches multi-front assault on ISIS positions in Al-Miskad mountains Ceelka Il-Abbal, Somalia — Puntland State security forces launched a coordinated, multi-pronged offensive Monday against entrenched ISIS fighters thought to be sheltering in the remote Al-Miskad mountain range, officials said, stepping up a campaign to flush out some of the group's last visible leaders in northeastern Somalia. The operation, focused on the Ceelka Il-Abbal area — a maze of rocky ridges and dry gullies that have long offered…

Puntland State seizes foreign trawlers in weeklong crackdown on illegal fishing BOSASO, Somalia — Puntland State authorities said Thursday that their maritime police have rounded up several foreign fishing vessels and support boats in a weeklong operation aimed at stamping out illegal fishing off Somalia’s northeastern coast — a flashpoint that has long fuelled tensions between local communities and foreign fleets. Multiple vessels detained, crews moved to Bosaso The Puntland State Maritime Police Force (PMPF), working…

Somalia’s Quiet Test of Federalism: A New State’s Speaker Knocks on Mogadishu’s Door In the thick summer heat of Mogadishu, a meeting that might have gone unnoticed told a larger story about where Somalia’s fragile federal experiment may be heading. On Tuesday, Abdullahi Ali Hirsi Timacadde, the Second Deputy Speaker of Somalia’s Upper House, hosted Dr. Adan Abdullahi Aw-Hassan, the Speaker of the North Eastern State Parliament, for talks that were part ceremony, part signal, and all politics. The official readout was…

Puntland State’s opposition rejects reported North Western State of Somalia understanding — and the political ground shifts In Garowe, the political heart of Puntland State, four opposition parties walked into a hastily called meeting and walked out with a message sharper than usual for Somalia’s notoriously tempered political language: whatever “understanding” was reportedly reached between Puntland State and neighboring North Western State of Somalia, they want no part of it. The parties — Ifiye, Mustaqbal, Mideeye, and…

In Puntland State’s Cal-Miskaad, a puncture wound to ISIS — and a reminder of unfinished war BOSASO, Somalia — For nearly a year, Puntland State’s counterterrorism forces have methodically pushed into the mazelike caves and dry riverbeds of the Cal‑Miskaad Mountains, chipping away at an ISIS presence that once projected violence across Somalia’s northeastern corridor. This weekend’s operation — which local commanders say captured two key spring sites and netted a foreign fighter — is being framed in Puntland State as proof…

U.S. carries out airstrike on ISIS in Puntland State amid broader campaign in Somalia MOGADISHU — The U.S. military said Tuesday that it conducted an airstrike on Islamic State militants in Somalia’s rugged Al‑Miskaad mountains, continuing a pattern of remote strikes aimed at degrading extremist groups in the Horn of Africa. U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) said the late‑September operation occurred on Sept. 26 in a remote area roughly 60 kilometres (37 miles) southeast of Bossaso, the bustling port city at the heart of…

Puntland State says it killed ISIS cell blamed for landmine that slain senior commander GAROWE, Somalia — Puntland State’s regional forces say they killed seven Islamic State fighters and captured one more in a mountain sweep on Sunday, striking a cell accused of planting the landmine that killed Brig. Gen. Qalyare, one of the region’s most senior officers, last week. The operation unfolded in the Dhasan area of the Cal Miskaad range, a jagged spine of rock and scrubland along Somalia’s northeast. In a brief statement,…

Has Puntland State turned the tide against Islamic State? A closer look at President Deni’s claims What the president said In a recent televised interview, Puntland State President Said Abdullahi Deni delivered a blunt assessment of a years‑long counter‑insurgency: he said his forces have “severely weakened” Islamic State in the northeastern Somali region of Bari, claiming more than 2,000 fighters — many foreign nationals — who once operated from the Cal Miskaad mountain range have been “largely neutralized.” Deni…