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The ISIL militant group is eyeing Somalia as its next target after it succeeded in Nigeria.

The Islamist extremists group wants to create an East African branch called the ‘Little Emirate”. Authorities have termed this move as desperate but warn against the possible Al-Shabaab ISIL merger.

In 2012, Al-Shabaab, the Somalia based militant group pledged allegiance to the Al Qaeda terrorist network. It controlled the capital, Mogadishu and other major cities, but that’s no longer the case.
The militant group has been dislodged from all major cities, its financial lifeline cut, and its top leadership killed.
Its fighters now hope to join the Islamic State militants, a move Somali authorities term as “desperate”.