--- title: "US forces capture ISIS finance chief in Somalia" description: "An American raid on Friday saw U.S. troops capture Abdiweli Mohamed Yusuf, the chief money man for ISIS in Somalia since 2019." date: "2025-07-26" modified: "2025-07-26" authors: - name: "Nicholas Slayton" job_title: "Contributing Editor" link: "https://taskandpurpose.com/authors/nicholas-slayton/" url: "https://taskandpurpose.com/news/us-forces-somalia-finance-chief/" categories: - "Africa" - "Around the World" - "News" tags: - "adsafety" - "africa command" --- # US forces capture ISIS finance chief in Somalia ![DAABDAMALE, PUNTLAND, SOMALIA - JANUARY 25: Soldiers with the Puntland Defense Forces walk back from a cave where Islamic State fighters lived until recently being flushed out on the frontline near Daabdamale, Puntland, Somalia on January 25, 2025. Islamic State in Somalia recruits foreign fighters and brings them into Somalia to try to gain ground in what is becoming a key nerve center for the Islamic State. (Photo by Carolyn Van Houten/The Washington Post via Getty Images)]() *Soldiers from the Puntland Defense Forces hunt ISIS-Somalia members in January 2025. Photo by Carolyn Van Houten/The Washington Post via Getty Images* American military forces successfully captured multiple members of ISIS-Somalia on Friday in a ground raid in Somalia’s Puntland state. U.S. Africa Command announced on Saturday that it carried out an operation against ISIS-Somalia on July 25. The release did not include details on the nature of the operation or if any ISIS members were killed or captured; saying that “\[s\]pecific details about units and assets will not be released to ensure continued operations security.” “AFRICOM, alongside the Federal Government of Somalia and Somali Armed Forces, continues to take action to degrade ISIS-Somalia's ability to plan and conduct attacks that threaten the U.S. homeland, our forces, and our citizens abroad,” AFRICOM’s release said. However, the Puntland Defense Force, the main counter-terrorism body for the state, [posted]() on X that their U.S. partners successfully captured ISIS-Somalia’s finance chief Abdiweli Mohamed Yusuf, along with two others. Additionally an AFRICOM spokesperson said in a statement to Task & Purpose that AFRICOM is “currently assessing the results of the operation and will provide additional information on ISIS-Somalia individuals captured as appropriate.” Yusuf, also known as Abdiweli Walalac, has served as the chief financial leader for the terrorist group in Somalia since at least 2019. In June 2023, the U.S. Department of the Treasury [listed]() him as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist and imposed sanctions on him. In that same announcement naming Yusuf as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist, the Treasury Department noted that ISIS-Somalia generated millions in funds, mainly through extortion of local businesses, which it then used to finance its operations. Yusuf, as the chief money man for the group, answered directly to the leaders of ISIS-Somalia and ISIS al-Karrar, a subgroup that oversees several ISIS cells throughout the African continent. Puntland, on the northeasternmost part of Somalia, is geographically the closest part of the country to the Middle East and has been home to ISIS-Somalia for several years. The raid in Puntland happened the same day that U.S. forces [killed]() Dhiya’ Zawba Muslih al-Hardani, a senior leader of ISIS in Syria. The U.S. military has long had a presence in Somalia during the Global War on Terror. In recent years it has focused on targeting ISIS and al-Shabab militants, in support of the federal government of Somalia’s fight against them. After scaling back the number of airstrikes during the Biden administration, the U.S. has significantly [ramped up]() operations against militants in Somalia this year. That included several major airstrikes, including ones [carried out by]() the fighter jets on the USS Harry S. Truman while it was operating in the Red Sea. ## Author Nicholas Slayton is a contributing editor for Task & Purpose, covering conflict for over 12 years, from the Arab Spring to the war in Ukraine. His previous reporting can be found on the non-profit Aslan Media, The Atlantic, Al Jazeera, The New Republic, The American Prospect, Architectural Digest, The Daily Beast, and the Los Angeles Downtown News. You can reach him at nicholas@taskandpurpose.com or find him on Twitter @NSlayton and Bluesky at @nslayton.bsky.social. ### Author social links [Twitter]()