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Airwars Assessment
In conjunction with the Somali government, U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) conducted a strike against Islamic State militants on 31 May, 2024 in “a remote area in the vicinity of Dhaardaar”. AFRICOM reported that the strike had killed three IS militants, “with no civilian casualties”.
X/Twitter user @ZakeriyeAxmed reported that the strike targeted IS leader and former Al-Shabaab member, Abdulqa’dir Mumin, but that “they [US officials] aren’t certain he is dead”. This was corroborated by Garowe Online: “The United States maintains that Mumin was the target and insists he may have died, although there was no immediate confirmation”.
HSToday, referencing ABC News, reported that “a fourth U.S. official would confirm only that ‘a senior Islamic State leader was the target of the strike’, but would not reveal any names”. Deemed by some as the “worldwide leader of the terror group”, Mumin would later be reported alive, though it is unclear whether such reports are credible. Radio Dalsan wrote that “recent intelligence confirms that Mumin is alive” and that he “continues to operate from a highly secured, secret location in the Al-Miskaad mountains of the Bari region”. More recently reports from August of 2024, including from the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point, state that it’s possible that Abdulqa’dir Mumin may have become the worldwide leader of ISIS but this hasn’t been substantiated.