The Islamic State has regrouped in Somalia β and has global ambitions
The Islamic State has also become a more sophisticated fighting force, 
employing suicide drones, long-distance snipers and bombs.
Puntland soldiers and logistics convoys have targeted dozens of times by drones, a tactic commonly used by militants in 
Syria and Iraq but new to Somalia.
Footage from captured drones shared with The Post showed that some were 
equipped with thermal imaging cameras, allowing for nighttime attacks. One model was identified by risk management company Vates Somalia as retailing for upward of $9,000.
The Post obtained footage captured by Puntland Defense Forces showing a drone. Drones have been targeting Puntland soldiers, a new tactic in Somalia.
The expensive drones 
can carry and release up to four separate munitions. Cheaper self-detonating versions explode into trucks, water tankers or crowds of troops. Injured soldier Abdiqani Muse Warsame, recovering in the hospital after a recent attack, said drones had repeatedly attacked his unit at night.
βWe just have our naked eyes and our guns to shoot them,β he said.
Foreign fighters
Puntlandβs prisons have more than a dozen men who maintain they were tricked into joining the Islamic State. Some of their claims β like that of a 
Yemeni man caught during a failed attempt to blow up a police checkpoint in the port city of Bosaso a couple of nights before β didnβt add up.
Also in custody are six Moroccans, who say they were recruited in 2023 from the city of Fes. They described an elaborate journey: driving overland through multiple countries, flying to Addis Ababa and sneaking across the Ethiopian border with Somalia. They traveled through the mountains for days, they said, often in the company of other foreigners, including men from 
Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, Sudan and Ethiopia.
βWe trained with Kalashnikovs, in a group of around 30 people β 
Algerians, Moroccans, Tunisians, Somalis and two Palestinians,β said one of the Moroccans. Like other prisoners, he spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.
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On Tuesday, the Islamic State attacked Puntland soldiers deep in the valley with 
car bombs and suicide attackers on motorbikes.