Ethiopian state media on Wednesday reported the arrest of 82 alleged Islamic State militants at a dozen locations across the country.
The suspects had received paramilitary training and were ready to conduct terrorist operations.
The arrests were announced by the National Intelligence Security Services (NISS), the most powerful intelligence agency in the country. The NISS handles both internal and external threats, from terrorism to cybercrime.
According to state broadcaster FANA, the NISS has been “closely monitoring” the Islamic State’s “cross-border infiltration strategies and its effort to establish sleeper cells in Ethiopia.”
NISS said the suspects “maintained direct links with the terrorist organization and were engaged in providing logistical, financial, and operational support.”
“Several individuals were also found to be part of the group’s intelligence and recruitment apparatus, actively facilitating the establishment of ISIS-affiliated cells inside Ethiopia,” the FANA report added.
In addition to plotting terrorist violence, the ISIS operatives in Ethiopia were allegedly “exploiting religious institutions” to “disseminate extremist ideology, recruit vulnerable individuals, and destabilize communities. Their long-term goal was “undermining national unity.”
ISIS is seen as a much smaller threat to the region than al-Shabaab, the Somalia-based ally of al-Qaeda.
The NISS said the militants it arrested were members of the Somalia wing of ISIS, which could include up to 1,500 fighters. Al-Shabaab’s total strength is difficult to estimate, but the United Nations believes it has between 7,000 and 12,000 fighters.
ISIS-Somalia was formed by defectors from al-Shabaab in 2015, and was officially recognized by the worldwide Islamic State network in 2018. The Somalia branch, headquartered in the northeastern region of Puntland, is noted for its ability to raise money for ISIS operations through banditry and extortion.
The U.S. State Department generally gives Ethiopia high marks for cracking down on ISIS and al-Shabaab, whose activities have exacerbated the threat of violence between Ethiopia’s various ethnic factions.
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