Sheikh Abdulqadir Mumin

Qandala roughly 70 kilometres from the port of Bossaso in Puntland has been ISIS's fiefdom for some years being the home of the Ali Saleban clan to which local ISIS leader Sheikh Abdulqadir Mumin belongs but expansion out of the small pocket around has proved elusive until now (AC Vol 59 No 15 ISIS's nemesis)...

RivalsBut perhaps the likeliest factor drawing Al Shabaab northwards is competition with the Somali incarnation of Da'ish (or so-called Islamic State IS) under the former Al Shabaab commander Sheikh Abdiqadir Mumin (AC Vol 57 No 23 ISIS's Puntland stunt)...

The leader of Somalia's version of the pan-regional and Middle Eastern Islamist movement also known as 'Islamic State' or ISIS Sheikh Abdiqadir Mumin first announced his defection from Al Shabaab in October 2015 (AC Vol 56 No 23 The who and the how of the presidency)...

'Islamic state' or Da'ish may again try to gather some of its sympathisers and set up a new group in Southern Somalia that would provide some hope to the Puntland Da'ish group led by Sheikh Abdiqadir Mumin (AC Vol 57 No 23 ISIS's Puntland stunt)...

It was the first such action since Sheikh Abdiqadir Mumin once a prominent emir in Al Haraka al Shabaab al Mujahideen mounted his unsuccessful attempt last October to split Al Shabaab and take most of its fighters with him (AC Vol 57 No 2 Al Shabaab sees off Da'ish)...

' When one of Somali Islamism's most prominent 'emirs' and follower of Harakat al Shabaab al Mujahideen Sheikh Abdiqadir Mumin made his oath of allegiance to Da'ish in October 2015 that was the culmination of careful preparation by Da'ish (AC Vol 56 No 23 The who and the how of the presidency)...

Nevertheless on 22 October a key Puntland-based Al Shabaab leader and Islamic scholar who formerly lived in Britain Sheikh Abdiqadir Mumin joined Da'ish and swore the Bayah (Islamic oath of allegiance) to the Da'ish leader...