Four ISIS suspects nabbed in operation in Baidoa

Authorities of Souhwest State have arrested four suspected Islamic State fighters in  operation in the southwestern town of Baidoa

Mohamed Iska Aflow, Southwest Administration’s head of intelligence and security agency, told journalists that the group’s commander in Bay and Bakool regions is among those arrested alongside his three collaborators.

He said the detained leader was in charge of IS’s terror operations in Bay region of southern Somalia.

“Mahad Nuh Sidow, Abdiasis Hassan Mural and Mohamed Sheikh Isak were dispatched to terrorize and carry out bomb attacks in this regional state, we successfully held them and we are displaying them to the media at the moment,” Aflow added.

In December last year,  handful Al-Shabaab defectors had pledged allegiance to ISIS  after they clashed with al-Shabaab fighters in a remote area in the autonomous region of Puntland.

Sheikh Abdulkadir Mumin, who once lived in London but left to join al-Shabaab in 2010 was appointed to be the leader of the ISIS new wing in Somalia.

In April this year, the ISIL surrogate claimed responsibility for an alleged attack on AMISOM convoy outside Mogadishu but Amisom refuted the claims noting the convoy had way passed the point of explosion before the incident occurred.

Earlier this month, the US Department of State added the commander of the Islamic State’s nascent force in Somalia, Mumin to its list of specially designated global terrorists (SDGT).