Puntland’s elite Dervish forces have captured a Turkish national and ISIS operative, identified as Feyzul Hashim Suleyman, during an intelligence-led raid in Togga Balade, a remote area of the Bari region long known as a refuge for jihadist cells.
The operation, part of the fourth phase of Operation Hilac, marks a major success in Puntland’s campaign to dismantle ISIS networks entrenched in the Cal-Miskaad mountains.
Security officials confirmed to WARYATV that Suleyman’s arrest follows weeks of tracking by Puntland intelligence units.
He is believed to be the second Turkish national captured in two months, after the June arrest of Hassan Ataar, another ISIS-linked foreign fighter operating in the same area.
Authorities disclosed that two additional Turkish nationals — Emre Kemal Yilmaz and Aylin Derya Kaya — remain at large, reportedly still hiding in the Cal-Miskaad mountain range, where ISIS has maintained training and logistics bases since 2015.
According to Gen. Ahmed Abdilaahi Sheikh, a senior Puntland military officer overseeing the campaign, the captured men are part of a group of Turkish fugitives who fled their country after the failed 2016 coup attempt.
“Our intelligence indicates they joined ISIS in Syria before relocating to Puntland, where they embedded themselves in local militant networks,” Gen. Ahmed told reporters.
He said investigations are underway to establish possible links between these foreign fighters and international smuggling operations and the PKK’s regional shadow networks.
Security experts say the arrests highlight an alarming development — the Cal-Miskaad range is evolving into a transnational haven for foreign extremists seeking to rebuild ISIS’s operational capacity across East Africa.
Analysts warn that the integration of Turkish, Syrian, and Somali militants in the area points to a renewed strategy by ISIS to use Puntland as a regional coordination hub, exploiting the difficult terrain and weak maritime monitoring along the Gulf of Aden.
A Somali national was also captured during Monday’s clashes, suggesting that local recruits continue to provide logistical cover for foreign fighters.
WARYATV’s defense sources note that Puntland’s Operation Hilac has become one of the Horn of Africa’s most effective counterterrorism efforts, conducted without significant foreign troop presence but supported by intelligence coordination with regional partners.
The operation’s success underscores Puntland’s growing role as a frontline state in the global fight against ISIS and transnational terrorism — and raises new questions about the flow of foreign jihadists from Turkey, Syria, and Iraq into Somalia’s northern highlands.
