# Puntland forces kill senior ISIS drone commander in Calmiskaad operation
*Event date: 2025-03-13*
Puntland security forces said they killed a senior Islamic State commander who was responsible for directing drone attacks in Somalia’s Bari region, according to Hiiraan Online. The report identifies the militant as a foreign national and says he was killed in a Puntland-led operation in the Lugta-Huraanhur and Togga Raq-raq areas of the Al Miskaad mountains.
The source says the commander had been tied to explosive-laden unmanned aerial vehicles used against Puntland forces in earlier clashes. That detail is important because it shows the operation was not just a routine ground engagement but part of a campaign against a group that has adapted to drone warfare. A downed ISIS drone was also reportedly recovered by Puntland forces in the same mountain range.
Officials did not say whether other ISIS fighters were killed in the operation, but they said Puntland forces had expanded control in the area and that militants had retreated. That means the immediate military outcome is clear enough to report cautiously: a senior target was killed and the ground operation appears to have pushed the militants back, even if the full battlefield picture remained fluid.
The mountains in question are remote and rugged, which helps explain why the insurgency there has been hard to uproot. Puntland’s campaign has increasingly centered on denying militants the terrain they use for storage, movement and ambushes. The report suggests this operation was another step in that broader effort, though it does not give a casualty count beyond the commander’s death.
The article should avoid adding any independent assessment of how decisive the strike was. What can be said from the supplied report is narrower and safer: Puntland forces killed a senior foreign ISIS commander, recovered a drone apparently used in attacks and reported further gains in the mountains.
That is enough to frame the event as a counterterrorism success without pretending the conflict is over. The source supports a claim of tactical progress, not a final victory, and the story should stay at that level.
What makes the account notable is the shift in militant tactics. Drones are harder to spot, easier to hide and much more disruptive to a force that expects mountain fighting to look like rifles and ambushes. Puntland’s report suggests its campaign is now aimed at depriving ISIS of that aerial edge as well as its ground positions. Whether this kill proves decisive will depend on what happens next in the hills, but it is clearly part of a broader push to squeeze the militants’ room to maneuver.
The broader lesson is that counterterrorism in northeastern Puntland is no longer just about rooting out fighters hiding in caves. It is also about adapting to a group that can send explosive drones into the fight. The report’s emphasis on a recovered UAV makes that shift visible. If Puntland can keep pushing militants back while also blunting their drone capability, it gains not only territory but also a measure of control over the airspace above the mountains.
